No ‘sorry’ needed for Bishop gaffe

PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull says “no apology” to New Zealand is necessary and Australia can work with the country’s prime ministe-elect, Jacinda Ardern.

In an interview with 3AW host Neil Mitchell yesterday, Mr Turnbull said he spoke to Ms Ardern on Thursday night and congratulated her.

But he said there was “no apology necessary”, after Foreign Minister Julie Bishop suggested in August she could find it hard to trust the NZ Labour Party should it win the election.

Ms Bishop accused the Ardern-led Opposition of conspiring to undermine the Australian Government, saying Labor in Australia had used its NZ counterparts to raise questions about Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce’s Kiwi citizenship in the NZ parliament.

She said it put at risk the relationship between the Australian Government and the NZ Government.

Mr Turnbull told Mitchell there was no doubt he could “work together” with Ms Ardern.

When Mitchell asked whether Mr Turnbull felt he could “trust” Ms Ardern’s government, he replied: “I do expect to trust them.”

Ms Bishop also insisted she was looking forward to working with Ms Ardern and lashed out at Australian media over suggestions she had damaged her government’s ability to work constructively with NZ.

A month after the election, NZ First leader Winston Peters announced on Thursday he was forming a coalition government with Ms Ardern, bringing to an end nine years of National rule.

“I’m looking forward to working with the new government,” Ms Bishop told reporters as she flew out of Canberra.

Employment Minister Michaelia Cash, however, was critical of the arrangement across the Tasman, suggesting on Thursday night that the new NZ government might be destined to fail.

“History shows that unfortunately the last time the Labour, Greens and independents formed government it didn’t end well,” Senator Cash told 2GB radio, before praising the previous government led by John Key and Bill English.

Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman, Penny Wong, said the Turnbull government must take immediate action to rebuild relations with the incoming NZ government following Ms Bishop’s “unwise” attack.

“It is now incumbent on the Foreign Minister to undo the damage caused by her irresponsible remarks during the election campaign,” she said.

“It was a deeply regrettable lapse in judgment by Julie Bishop. It was an attempt to divert attention from the citizenship crisis surrounding Mr Joyce and she publicly declared as Foreign Minister that she couldn’t trust a future New Zealand Labour Government.”

Ms Ardern has signalled a trip across the ditch is on the cards as soon as possible. Her first task is appointing a cabinet with 28 Labour, NZ First and Green Party MPs in it.