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New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is traveling to Australia this week and will become the first head of government to meet with new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Australian soil.

Leaders will meet informally in Sydney on Thursday night and hold bilateral talks on Friday.

“The relationship between New Zealand and Australia is like a family,” Ardern said. “I look forward to meeting with the Albanian Prime Minister in person after our recent telephone conversations.

The New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern. Credit: Getty Images

“I know it will be the first of many, as New Zealand and Australia continue to work closely together in a world of growing challenges.”

The meeting brings together leaders with center-left governments who have been in power on both sides of the Tasman Sea for only the second time in 32 years.

Showing the warmth of the relationship, Albanese called Ardern from his road car to deliver his victory speech on election night.

The relationship between the two nations worsened in 2020 when Ardern, on his last visit to Sydney, confronted Morrison over Australia’s policy of deporting kiwis who have no family or community ties to New Zealand.

“Don’t deport your people and your problems,” Ardern told Morrison memorably, in a moment of forcefulness from a New Zealand leader.

This problem remains a major problem in New Zealand, where authorities believe that untied deportees contribute to gang-related crimes. New Zealand expects a breakthrough, or at least a smoothing.

“Obviously this is a topic we look forward to talking about,” said New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson. “We do not believe that politics is fair or just and we will look for changes in the new government.

AAP

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