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  • 3 years ago
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has held talks with his New Zealand counterpart Chris Hipkins in Wellington. It's Mr Albanese's first trip across the Tasman as Prime Minister.

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00:00 There has been a lot of discussion as to whether or not the free flow of people between Australia
00:06 and New Zealand needs to be made even more freer.
00:10 It is 50 years since the Trans-Tasman travel arrangement was put in place, allowing Australians
00:16 and Kiwis to move into each other's countries, whether it be on holiday or otherwise, without
00:22 many restrictions.
00:23 And the discussion in the lead up to today's leaders meeting between Anthony Albanese and
00:28 Chris Hipkins has looked at whether or not there could be passport-free travel, or indeed
00:33 a common passport sort of scenario, to make that travel all the more easier.
00:39 We all know, those who've gone through international airports, how much of a delay there can be
00:43 as you're trying to clear customs and border control.
00:46 We were stuck in such a line yesterday when we arrived here in the New Zealand capital.
00:51 But this is the discussion that's been put forward, and while there may be some work
00:56 being done to make that process a little bit more clear and a little bit more easy to navigate,
01:03 this issue of no passport travel, or indeed a shared passport of some variety, according
01:08 to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, is not something on the agenda just now.
01:14 We haven't looked at a Trans-Tasman passport.
01:17 What we are looking at, though, is making a seamless experience of going through from
01:25 country to country.
01:26 So that might look at, for example, how smart gates can operate and be complementary, our
01:37 system, so that before you get on a plane in either country, it's already recognised
01:45 that you're okay to come in, and therefore can just go through smart gates in a seamless
01:54 way and in a timely way as well.
01:57 We have many business opportunities between us, and the fact that business people will
02:04 go from country to country regularly, what we want to make sure is that that experience
02:11 is the best it can possibly be, and that efficiencies can be gained by doing so.
02:18 One last item on their agenda, that is a formal dinner here at Government House in Wellington.
02:24 You can see some of the cars arriving.
02:26 You wouldn't be able to hear it, but there have been some singers clearly practising
02:30 ahead of the two leaders joining them tonight.
02:33 So that is the final event for today, before a brief agenda tomorrow, and the Prime Minister
02:38 then heading back across the Tasman to Australia.
02:41 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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