Remarks, Bilateral Meeting with Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand
31 May 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much Prime Minister. Kia ora. It's very good to be here in person and to have these discussions in person. We've had, we've had many many over the phone over this past year and a half, and when we last met it was in Sydney for, for our Annual Leaders Dialogue. So I'm pleased that, that our Annual Leaders Dialogue has not lost its pace and to be able to meet face to face again. It demonstrates exactly what you've said.
People often ask us, is this a partnership, it's far more than a partnership. It is a family relationship between Australia and New Zealand. We have some very serious times that we're dealing with, not just from the health point of view but obviously from a regional security point of view and Australia and New Zealand take a very prominent role in the Pacific, and I thank you for the relationship we've had working on particularly those issues in the Pacific.
It is true that Australia and New Zealand has done very well in the course of COVID. But as you can see in Victoria now, those challenges persist. And equally in Fiji, they are dealing with the challenges, and Papua New Guinea, they are dealing with challenges. We're supporting all of our Pacific family through our vaccine dose delivery into those regions and supporting them in their vaccinations.
But the broader issue of the Indo-Pacific and a free and open Indo-Pacific is something Australia and New Zealand feels very strongly about. And working with our like-minded partners all around the world, the United States and the United Kingdom, and as we're discussing across Europe, Japan and India, all of us have a big stake in ensuring a world that favours freedom and a free and open Indo-Pacific. And so we greatly appreciate the partnership we have to achieve those outcomes.
So with those issues all on the table today, we should, we should move on and get on with it. I really appreciate the direct personal relationship and dialogue we've had and, and that will only continue because we have common challenges, there are common threats, and that has always I think eclipsed everything when it comes to the strength of the working family relationship. Thank you very much.
