Faced With Growing Regional Threats, NZ and Australian PMs Meet to Talk Security

Chief of Army Lieutenant General Simon Stuart, AO, DSC (left) and New Zealand Chief of Army Major General John Boswell, conduct a salute after laying wreaths at the Pukeahu National War Memorial in Wellington, New Zealand, on April 17, 2023. (CPL Cameron Pegg/Australian Department of Defence)

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is making a one-day trip across the Tasman today to meet with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, mainly to discuss regional security.

Mr. Luxon has committed to prioritising defence and security in the first official discussions between the two.

“I want us to be higher intensity, higher engagement. I don’t ever want to take the relationship with Australia for granted,” he said—something New Zealand is often seen as doing given that it devotes just 1.2 percent of GDP to defence spending compared to Australia’s two percent.

In August of this year, the previous government released key documents, including a 36-page “Defence Policy and Strategy Statement,“ a 12-page ”Future Force Design Principles“ document, and an inaugural 44-page ”National Security Strategy.”

In his speech presenting these documents to Parliament, the Defence Minister at the time, Andrew Little, said “We do not live in a benign strategic environment. New Zealand is facing more geostrategic challenges than we have had in decades—climate change, terrorism, cyberattacks, transnational crime, mis and disinformation, and competition in our region which, until recently, we thought was protected by its remoteness.”

NZ’s Military ‘Not in a Fit State’

He admitted that the NZ military, as it currently exists, “is designed for a relatively benign strategic environment, and not the challenges of increased strategic competition ... As a result, it is not in a fit state to respond to future challenges.”

In the documents, the government calls out other countries in the Asia-Pacific region as threats to “existing international rules and norms.”

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They include “an increasingly powerful China” that “continues to invest heavily in growing and modernising its military, and is increasingly able to project military and paramilitary force beyond its immediate region.”

Mr. Luxon would not be drawn on whether he felt the previous government had taken the relationship with Australia for granted in terms of defence and security, only that he “just want[s] to make sure that we’re a good partner and holding up our end.”

Despite the focus on defense and security in the current meeting, the government has not committed to increasing defence spending.

Speculation NZ May Join AUKUS

However, the stated emphasis on defence and security in this first meeting is fuelling speculation that New Zealand may look at entering the AUKUS pact.

Defence Minister Judith Collins has criticised the previous government for not doing more to include New Zealand.

The first pillar of AUKUS allowed for the construction of submarines with nuclear power, so New Zealand’s nuclear-free status would make joining pillar one impossible.

However, the second pillar involves the sharing of non-nuclear technology.

Mr. Luxon described that as “rather undefined,” noting that “It’s not in the nuclear space, it’s in other areas. As the previous government has said, our position remains the same, which is we’re open to exploring what it all means.”

David Capie, director of the Centre for Strategic Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, said many in the Canberra security and defence establishment were critical of New Zealand’s relative lack of spending on defence, but Mr. Albanese was unlikely to publicly call out Wellington on that.

“I am sure Australia is concerned about the pressures on the New Zealand Defence Force and the growing capability gap—more of a chasm—between the two countries,” he said.

“It would like to see some sign from its ally that it is prepared to invest in its defence force given the much more challenging strategic environment.”