{"id":133628,"date":"2025-08-10T05:58:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T05:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/133628\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T05:58:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T05:58:09","slug":"cuddles-cuppas-and-chemistry-albanese-and-luxon-downplay-divisions-in-times-of-global-turmoil-australia-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/133628\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuddles, cuppas and chemistry: Albanese and Luxon downplay divisions in times of global turmoil | Australia news"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and his New Zealand counterpart, Christopher Luxon<\/a>, made multiple references to the freezing Queenstown climate during their annual meet-up but the mood was far from frosty.<\/p>\n

As the evening light dipped behind the jagged peaks surrounding a billionaire\u2019s bunker-like facility where the leaders held their bilateral talks<\/a> at the weekend, Luxon quipped that the outdoor press conference was the coldest he had ever done and it was time for a cup of hot chocolate.<\/p>\n

Albanese, however, had other ideas. \u201cWe\u2019re going in for a cuddle,\u201d he said, giving Luxon a good pat on the back \u2013 a reference, perhaps, to their much-talked about embrace earlier in the day.<\/a><\/p>\n

Anthony Albanese and Christopher Luxon greet each other warmly in Queenstown, New Zealand, on Saturday. Photograph: Hagen Hopkins\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

It is the pair\u2019s second annual meeting, following Luxon\u2019s visit to Canberra last year but the leaders\u2019 relationship precedes their time in office, having first met when Luxon was the chief executive of Air New Zealand<\/a>, and Albanese was Australia\u2019s transport minister.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been friends for a long time,\u201d Albanese said. \u201cWe\u2019re probably the two leaders of nations that can sit down and talk aviation like two nerds and bore everyone else around the international forums.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australia is New Zealand\u2019s only formal ally and the two countries have a long and close friendship, often walking in lock-step over global issues, defence and trade.<\/p>\n

\u2018This bond has never been more important\u2019<\/p>\n

However, their meeting came as record numbers of New Zealanders are leaving for Australia<\/a> in search of better opportunities, while Australia continues to deport people with criminal convictions back to New Zealand under its contentious 501 deportation <\/a>policy.<\/p>\n

Those issues \u2013 particularly the latter \u2013 have been a long-running thorn in the side of the trans-Tasman relationship, but were downplayed by the leaders who chose to focus their attention on being trusted friends, amid major geopolitical upheaval.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time of global uncertainty this bond has never been more important,\u201d Albanese said. Luxon, too, pointed to the certainty and predictability of the trans-Tasman alliance, and \u201cthe knowledge that we have one another\u2019s backs\u201d.<\/p>\n

Commitments to strengthen that bond included cooperating on growing each country\u2019s economy, cutting regulatory tape to streamline trans-Tasman business and working closely on defence.<\/p>\n

The prime ministers also stood together on international issues, including on Israel\u2019s latest plans for Gaza, China\u2019s expansion in the Pacific and US tariffs.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the foreign ministers of both countries \u2013 alongside Germany, Italy and the UK \u2013 released a joint statement condemning Israel\u2019s plan to take over Gaza City<\/a>. Last month, New Zealand and Australia<\/a> cosigned the New York Call<\/a> \u2013 a declaration indicating the possible recognition of Palestinian statehood.<\/p>\n

Neither Luxon nor Albanese would confirm when a declaration of statehood might happen but said Israel\u2019s latest plans were \u201cwrong\u201d and urged the country to rethink its agenda.<\/p>\n

The two leaders carry wreaths to a memorial during a wreath laying ceremony at Arrowtown War Memorial Park on Sunday. Photograph: Hagen Hopkins\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Both leaders also rejected the idea that possible trade retaliation from the US president, Donald Trump, over recognising Palestinian statehood would affect their positions. Australian goods imported into the US have attracted Trump\u2019s baseline 10% tariff, while last week, New Zealand was hit with a surprise 15% tariff<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe make our own assessments in \u2026 our own economic and our security interests,\u201d Luxon said, to which Albanese said: \u201cAustralia has exactly the same position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding China \u2013 the largest trading partner of both countries \u2013 the leaders said followed pretty much the same playbook: cooperate where they can and disagree where they must.<\/p>\n

On a icy Sunday morning in Arrowtown, the prime minsters laid a wreath in remembrance of fallen Anzac soldiers before embarking on a helicopter ride over the region\u2019s mountains and glaciers.<\/p>\n

After another set of goodbye hugs at Queenstown airport, Albanese boarded his 737-8 Boeing business jet just after midday.<\/p>\n

Following his departure, Luxon told media the pair shared \u201cgood chemistry\u201d, and that having a peer support group of other leaders was \u201creally important\u201d.<\/p>\n

Asked whether Albanese was \u201ctrolling\u201d him by sporting the yellow scarf of the Wallabies \u2013 Australia\u2019s national rugby team \u2013 Luxon said \u201che probably was a bit, yeah\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was probably trolling me a bit with that plane there too but I\u2019ll just leave that for another day,\u201d Luxon said, hinting at New Zealand\u2019s beleaguered defence force fleet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some trans-Tasman rivalries will never freeze over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and his New Zealand counterpart, Christopher Luxon, made multiple references to the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":133629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-133628","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115002940183350400","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}