Cordial meeting with Morrison
SINGAPORE: Jacinda Ardern and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison engaged in BBQ banter at their first ever meeting, in Singapore last night, before getting into more meaty issues about deportation of Kiwis, the Pacific and Iraq.
Ms Ardern began by suggesting the most pressing transtasman issue of the day was whether to put onions under or on top of a Bunnings sausage on bread — reportedly a health and safety issue in Australia. Mr Morrison went along with the joke.
But in opening remarks, Mr Morrison, who worked in New Zealand in the 1990s as a tourism official, said New Zealand and Australia’s timetables were aligned in relation to Afghanistan and Iraq.
He said the two countries also had a shared commitment to the Pacific ‘‘and I think in many ways New Zealand has demonstrated the family approach to how we should all operate in the Pacific and we are seeking to take a similar approach, obviously on a large scale’’.
‘‘I think it would be good to talk about how we can align those two initiatives because we have the same deep commitment and family commitment to the region.’’
Ms Ardern spoke to New Zealand reporters after the meeting and said half an hour with Mr Morrison was not enough, but they spoke briefly about issues of citizenship and deportations, the Pacific and military deployments.
Ms Ardern avoided saying whether Mr Morrison had been sympathetic to her concerns about deportation of New Zealand citizens who had no or little connection with New Zealand.
‘‘He acknowledged that and there is discretion in the system but for me it was important to make a point.’’
She said the atmospherics were warm and ‘‘in our relationship with Australia it is hard to find anything closer’’.
‘‘It is also hard to find any relationship that has the same friendly rivalry that we have as well, but that depth of relationship means that we can raise issues when they arise.’’
She said she expected to speak with Mr Morrison further between events in Singapore — or in Papua New Guinea, which is hosting Apec and the weekend.
She intended to raise the issue of asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island in those conversations.
Ms Ardern gave Mr Morrison a bottle of Surveyor Thomson Central Otago pinot noir and he gave her a silver tray made by a Melbourne artist.
Earlier, Ms Ardern met Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and offered her any help New Zealand could give to resolve the Rohingya crisis.
Ms Suu Kyi, once an icon of the human rights movement because of her resistance to military rule in Myanmar, is fast becoming a pariah because of her apparent indifference to the persecution by the military of the Rohingyas under her watch as leader.
After the bilateral meeting, a spokesman for Ms Ardern said the discussions had focused on the situation with the Rohingyas.
‘‘There was a discussion about the current situation on the ground in Rakhine [state], and the need for security and development.
‘‘New Zealand indicated our willingness to assist in any way we could to achieve an enduring resolution to the situation.’’