Okay, thanks for joining us. I was absolutely delighted to host Prime Minister Luxon in Queensland today for our annual meeting. Australia has no closer partner than New Zealand. We are family and we share values, we share history, and we're two of the world's most integrated economies. And the meeting that we had beforehand as well with business leaders really highlighted that integration which is occurring and we spoke about practical ways in which we could further integrate our economies, have that seamless activity across the Tasman. And in addition, I think there's a new element which is that we're living in a world which is really volatile, where there is a great deal of turbulence and some of the old certainties that commanded global trade and global activity has disappeared. At a time like this, Australia and New Zealand working together is more important than ever and there are also more opportunities than ever. Our engagement together as friends in the Pacific Island Forum, in ASEAN, at the sideline with our fastest growing region of the world in human history just to our north. Our participation in APEC, our engagement across so many global forums as well provides that real opportunity going forward. So I think this is an exciting time for us. As many of you would know, our Closer Economic Relations trade agreement was one of the first major achievements of the Hawke government back in 1983. It is one of the most comprehensive bilateral trade agreements in existence anywhere. Australia is New Zealand's third largest trading partner and New Zealand is Australia's seventh largest trading partner. In 2025, two-way investment was valued at $38 billion. In 2025, our two-way trade in goods and services exceeded $38 billion. This year as well, we celebrate 75 years of our alliance under the ANZUS treaty. The other thing we've spoken about today is our cooperation in defense, in foreign affairs, in international relations. That's so important both in terms of the interoperability of our defense forces, but also the benefits that we can get from our defense industry investments that both of us are making going forward. As founding members of the Pacific Islands Forum, we're also working with our fellow Pacific leaders to support Pacific regional architecture. Now, I had a visit just this week of Prime Minister Sogavare soon after his election in the Solomon Islands and he'll visit New Zealand in just a short period of time. That is really important. We discussed the lead-up to the PIF meeting in Palau. We'll participate of course in a pre-COP event as well in the region. And we'll continue to engage in the Pacific to meet the challenges which are there but also to seize the opportunities which are there. So I want to thank you Christopher and I thank Amanda as well for visiting us for members of the New Zealand business community who've joined with us here today. I think it was one of the most effective business meetings that I've had as prime minister. I've got to say it was very sharp and a lot of work went into the preparation clearly to make sure it was a very effective use of our time. And I thank the Australian business leaders as well for visiting us here in Queensland. So we'll hear from Prime Minister Luxon and then we'll have questions.
Well, firstly kia ora everyone and can I just say thank you Prime Minister Albanese for so generously welcoming us here and for your very kind words up front. We have really enjoyed our time together with you as we always do as a delegation. And it's a real pleasure to be back here in Australia and to spend some time in Queensland which is obviously a pretty popular tourism place for Kiwis to head to as well. I agree with Prime Minister. I'd like to think that the strong and close relationship we have is a small-scale version actually of how our two countries relate. Our connection goes well beyond shared borders and history. It rests on a genuine warmth between our two countries. We are family as we say and I think this relationship is in the best shape it's ever been. We have real work out there in the world to do together to remake the case for multilateralism rather than the multi-power world that seems to be emerging. We are moving definitely from a world from rules to power, from economics to security and increasingly from efficiency into resilience. But we have two fantastic countries that can do incredibly well out there in the world together by working together. We are sitting in a region that is the biggest driver of growth in the world and two-thirds of future global growth will come out of the Indo-Pacific region. Two-thirds of the middle class will be sitting in this region. We have abundant natural resources. We have strong social and democratic institutions and values that many of the world aspire to. And most importantly, we have most incredible world-class people and talent. So despite the choppiness, despite the volatility, there's no reason why we can't do extremely well for ourselves. Look, today we had a very productive discussion. As the prime minister said, we touched on defense. That history continues to shape how we cooperate today. That ANZAC connection that was forged so long ago is just a good reminder of us about how enduring and relevant that relationship is. We talked about ensuring that that relationship remains fit for purpose. That includes our defense cooperation with the goal of operating even more closely in a more integrated way over time working towards that capable ANZAC force that we set that vision for in 2035. We also talked about the importance of our cooperation in the Pacific. New Zealand and Australia have closely aligned interests in supporting a region that is incredibly stable, resilient, and prosperous. And we're also committed to working together in a coordinated way that delivers practical outcomes for our Pacific partners. As we do each and every day. Alongside that strategic alignment, our economic relationship is highly developed. As prime minister said, there's about $38 billion worth of goods and services that moves between our two countries each year. It was a very very good conversation with the CEOs from both sides talking about what more we can do together. And that alignment in our economies just continues to play a really big strength as we think about how we build more financial security as part of our broader national securities in the context of that volatile and changing world. There's more that we think we can do together as we think about how we do more around technology, building that resilience and driving more economic productivity and more economic growth. It was a real pleasure just then to stand and actually see the signing of the next phase of the Trans-Tasman science collaboration related to the synchrotron agreement that reinforces New Zealand's long-standing commitment to international science collaboration and shared research infrastructure with Australia and it commits us to the next phase. And then finally, our people-to-people connections are just another key strength in our bilateral relationship. And Australia, of course, is the largest source of visitors for us with more than one and a half million Australians coming over and seeing and spending some time in New Zealand. And that is a genuine two-way exchange, as you know, with New Zealanders coming to Australia and more broadly a number of New Zealanders now calling Australia home. Looking ahead, I felt after this visit, there are real clear opportunities on this foundation to continue to build out upon. Having met with the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games team, that is a massive chance for our region, a fantastic chance for our region in the next decade to lift the profile of tourism and infrastructure and productivity in the broader Australia New Zealand region. At its core, this is a relationship that is deeply integrated. It is highly practical and pragmatic. It's focused on delivering outcomes for both of our countries and the priority for both of us is to continue to build on that strength, focusing on positioning Australia and New Zealand to make the most of the opportunities that we see out there together in the world in spite of the volatility and the uncertainty. Prime Minister, I just want to reiterate again a big thank you to you and Jodie for so warmly and being so generous with your hospitality. And we really appreciate the friendship and the spirit of our negotiations always with you and all the officials and all of our teams that work so closely together. And we look forward with great confidence continuing to deepen our friendship and our partnership and taking it to the next level.
Thanks Chris. We'll take questions I think alternate between Australia and New Zealand.
Olivia Sanders from the ABC. Prime Minister Luxon, the Australian federal government recently announced changes to the capital gains tax discount. Following that, your finance minister urged Australians looking to start and grow a business to come to New Zealand because you don't have capital gains tax. Do you support the call from your finance minister? And if so, why? And for Prime Minister Albanese, what do you think when you hear our neighbors are encouraging Australians to move overseas effectively criticizing the changes to the policy?
Well, I might jump in first here. No, I think I know what you're going to say. What next? The W signing another Jackson Ford. I mean, we have a relationship which is often a bit tongue and cheek. That's the truth of the matter. The W sign our players. We have a few Kiwis in Australia too. 638,000 of them. Here in Australia, one in eight New Zealanders live here. Why? Because it's a good place to live just like Australians will continue to enjoy living in New Zealand as well. And so it's a good relationship. Occasionally there's a bit of cheekiness to the relationship. Long may that continue.
Yeah. Look, no secret within the New Zealand domestic context, there's been a long-running debate now for over 10 years about the merits of introducing a CGT or not. You know, we haven't ever introduced one in the country. Her comments were really in the context of that debate domestically rather than, there was no comments about the domestic settings of the CGT here in Australia. That's up for you guys and your different economic context to obviously make your decisions as it's a debate domestically in New Zealand. We don't think that's appropriate for New Zealand and we feel, you know, pretty strongly about it. You know, we've got a recovery underway. And we just think a CGT being introduced to New Zealand now would be a wrecking ball through our economy.
Well, I think the prime minister discovered, you know, I think it was done in good humor. And yes, it was cheeky. I agree. But what's important for me is that we don't comment on each other's domestic economic policies because that's there's different contexts and different histories that may have got us to different decisions. And she definitely didn't do that. She was responding to the broader challenge about the merits of a CGT in New Zealand. And that's really what we're the quite a robust debate about that. You know, for any All Blacks out there think you're moving to Australia, we can fast track your citizenship.
From the New Zealand Herald. For noting, did you feel Prime Minister, did you feel it was appropriate though for Nicola Willis who is also the government's finance minister to attack New Zealand's Labor Party by essentially saying that your government made its tax reforms because they're under political strain and on that political train that both of you are facing from the likes of One Nation and New Zealand First is one for both of you. What do you make of the rise of immigration as a political issue on both sides of the Tasman? Do you think that that's bad?
Maybe if I take that one first. I mean, you know, the immigration debate in New Zealand, as I've said in recent weeks, is you know, I get what the populists want to do on one side of politics about talking about immigration, but the reality is we have a system that is about legal immigration. We have an immigration settings that are constantly adjusted and tweaked to make sure they are very strongly linked to our infrastructure capacity, but also to the broader economic agenda we have. And when countries lose their formation about linking immigration to their economic agenda and infrastructure capacity, that's when we've seen challenges like we've seen in the UK where there is, you know, frankly up to a thousand illegal immigrants coming into the UK each and every day at times. You've seen huge amounts of illegal immigration in the US. So that is not the situation that we have certainly in New Zealand. That political mentality, the point I've been trying to make, shouldn't be trying to be imported in to whip up xenophobia and an anti-immigrant feeling. When that is not the way that is not the New Zealand experience, we have legal immigration. We constantly adjust our settings. We make sure that it's broadly linked to our infrastructure capacity and importantly our economic agenda where we have work shortages and gaps. And I just think it's easy and lazy politics doing so.
Yeah, look, we have cut immigration levels of the net overseas migration by 45%. Since its peak, obviously post-COVID there was a spike in migration. That's not surprising given that Australians were stopped from coming home, let alone people visiting Australia as well. We are a nation made up with the exception of First Nations people of migrants or descendants of migrants here in Australia. They play a vital role. One of the things that I will never draw a distinction between is Australians and migrants because to do that is to seek to divide. Before I became prime minister, there was a scare campaign saying that the boat arrivals would start up. The truth is that no one who's arrived by boat is allowed to stay here. We've kept Operation Sovereign Borders in place. We have an orderly migration system. What we are doing is making sure that is continued. Making sure we link migration with skill shortages is very important going forward.
Can I get an answer to the first part of the question? Did you feel it was appropriate for Nicola to make those comments and attack New Zealand's Labor Party by claiming that you made changes because...
I'm very relaxed about what people say tongue and cheek overseas. I doubt whether anyone took it any more seriously than I did. That's the way that I took the comments to make and that's the nature of the banter that occurs. Myself and the PM here were exchanging text messages over the Sydney FC game that was held when was that? About two weeks ago. About two weeks ago on the Saturday night. You know that's the nature of banter. I know the finance minister. I also know Chris Hipkins as well and I regard him as a friend as I regard the other Christopher as a friend here as well. I have no intention of engaging in internal New Zealand politics and I don't think the finance minister was doing that either. I just took it as a bit cheeky given 638,000 Kiwis are living here. I don't think there's 638,000 Australians living in New Zealand.
There's 90,000 and I just do want to point out we've had a...
The quality Prime Minister, as are every one of the 638,000 New Zealanders, particularly those who have taken up the opportunity of my changes I made to make it easier to become Australian citizens and vote in Australian elections and I encourage both of those events to occur.
