PM cross as Anzac links slide

The traditional Anzac relationship is under threat from one-sided Australian policies including a proposed new change affecting Kiwi students, Prime Minister Bill English said yesterday.

From next year, subsidies for New Zealand citizens enrolling in tertiary education courses will likely be withdrawn, making them fee-paying students.

Labour said the proposal, which followed recent volatility around citizenship laws, and debates over deportees and welfare benefits, showed English could not maintain the ‘‘bromance’' John Key established with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

English said he was unhappy with Australian policies that undermined traditions of equal treatment.

’’We want a serious discussion with them about where they’re headed with this policy rather than announcements that are made either without telling us, or at short notice.’’

English said the Turnbull government’s cashflow issues were probably a factor in the student clampdown.

‘‘We’re pretty unhappy about it. It shows what happens when you’ve got government deficits ... this is one area where they think they can make some savings’’.

English said Minister of Foreign Affairs Gerry Brownlee would go to Australia within a week ‘‘conveying our unhappiness about it’’.

But there was no point taking arbitrary action against Australians in New Zealand, English said. Constructive discussions would be better than a mutual arms race ‘‘to see who can treat each other’s citizens worse’’.

Turnbull had always acted with goodwill towards New Zealand, English said, but recent developments were concerning, and Turnbull did not mention the tertiary fees when they spoke on Friday.

For generations, people of either nation had been treated like citizens in both countries, English said. There was now ‘‘significant uncertainty about the Australian attitude towards that traditional arrangement’’.

Concerns were also raised last month about more stringent Australian citizenship requirements ‘‘shifting the goalposts’’ for Kiwis to gain full rights across the ditch.

Recent developments were in contrast to the buoyant mood early last year, when an Australian government amnesty carved a pathway for tens of thousands of Kiwi expats to become citizens.

English said many New Zealanders in Australia now ‘‘don’t know just what might happen next’’.

He said both governments needed ‘‘a discussion about the bigger picture and where they’re headed’’.

The New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations (NZUSA) also criticised the policy change.

‘‘There exists a double standard when Australian students are entitled to domestic fees here ... yet New Zealanders no longer will get the same entitlement in Australia,’’ said Jonathan Gee, NZUSA national president.

‘‘New Zealanders will be left short-changed as a result of these changes, forking out thousands more dollars to study in Australia,’’ Gee said.

Labour leader Andrew Little said New Zealand citizens and their children abroad would ‘‘end up suffering’’ because of the education policy.