KEY POINTS:
Australia's new Labor Government will work to develop a new partnership with New Zealand on climate change and the Pacific after talks between the Prime Ministers of the two countries yesterday.
In the first formal meeting of a Labor-to-Labour transtasman leadership for more than a decade, Prime Minister Helen Clark and Australian counterpart Kevin Rudd also vowed to continue working towards a single economic market.
Reaffirming Australian Labor's election promise to give high priority to bilateral ties and international co-operation with Wellington, Mr Rudd said of the relationship: "It's as close as you can get."
His early meeting with Helen Clark, and their resolve to work closely together in global climate change talks and in the Pacific, removed two key divergences between Wellington and John Howard's conservative Government.
Mr Howard had refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change - one of the first moves Labor made after winning power in November - and his Government raised hackles among Pacific states that saw Canberra as overbearing, despite their receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in Australian aid.
But while relieving early concerns that New Zealand may slip below the new Australian Government's horizon, yesterday's meeting in Canberra was a continuation of a close and binding relationship developed by Mr Howard and Helen Clark, a development recognised by Mr Rudd. "I would like to pay tribute to the [Howard] Government for its efforts in the past to ensure that this relationship was kept in good working order," he said.
"It has assisted our respective countries enormously."
Helen Clark's one-day agenda in Australia also embraced key Australian ministers including Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, Treasurer Wayne Swan, Attorney-General Robert McClelland, Climate Change Minister Penny Wong, Trade Minister Simon Crean and Opposition leader Brendan Nelson.
Mr Rudd said that while the two countries had worked well in dealing with the challenges of today, he and Helen Clark had resolved to ensure that they now worked together to meet the challenges of tomorrow.
Key among the discussions was climate change and the prospect of closer international co-operation after Canberra's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol.
Mr Rudd said that ratification of Kyoto by both countries presented an unprecedented opportunity to work together in what would be difficult and complex international negotiations.
"I think there is enormous strength to be had by our working seamlessly together in these important negotiations," he said.
Helen Clark welcomed Canberra's ratification of Kyoto. "It's made a huge difference in getting the kinds of interests which Australia and New Zealand have up high on the international climate change agenda."
The two expressed the hope of also developing common or harmonised carbon emissions trading schemes, although Helen Clark said New Zealand was well ahead of Australia - a point accepted by Mr Rudd in an indirect endorsement of Labour.
Asked if there were parallels between his Government's victory over Mr Howard and New Zealand's looming election, Mr Rudd said Australia's election had been fought on a debate about policies for the future, particularly climate change.
He said New Zealand under Labour had always been forward-looking on climate change, "And that puts New Zealand in a good space for the future."
In the Pacific, Canberra has already begun repairing its damaged relationships, and Mr Rudd said he and Helen Clark had resolved to form a new partnership focusing on co-operation in aid programmes that totalled about A$1 billion ($1.14 billion) a year.
"New Zealand prides itself legitimately on a good relationship with most, if not all, of the Pacific Island states over a long period of time," he said.
Helen Clark said there was genuine goodwill in Australia for working closely with New Zealand on development assistance and within the Pacific Island Forum.
But both leaders condemned Fiji's expulsion of Australian newspaper publisher Russell Hunter.
