New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has said he is looking for closer defence co-operation with Australia as the smaller Pacific neighbour undergoes a “foreign policy reset”.
Mr Luxon is in Canberra for the Australia-New Zealand Leaders’ Meeting, where he will meet one-on-one with Anthony Albanese to discus trans-Tasman issues.
The pivot comes amid growing Western concern of China’s assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.
Speaking to Sky News on Friday morning, Mr Luxon said his country is reviewing its “defence capability” and he is hoping Australia, New Zealand’s “only ally”, will play a bigger role.
“We’ve got a foreign policy reset under our new government, and all we’re saying is our national interests are actually served by both our security and our economic interests in the Indo Pacific region,” he told Sky News on Friday.
“Australia is our only ally, and as we do our defence capability plan and our review, that makes sense for us to be increasingly interoperable with Australia and also given the close working relationship that we have.”
He said Australia and New Zealand “have always had a really strong relationship”, describing it as “family”.
“It’s a longstanding relationship and partnership and friendship that we have got strong people to people ties,” he said.