Lackey named High Commissioner to Australia

New Zealand's next High Commissioner to Australia is Kate Lackey, the country's most senior woman diplomat.

Announcing the appointment today, Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Phil Goff said the relationship with Australia is New Zealand's "most important".

Ms Lackey is a career diplomat, who has served in Asia, the Pacific and North America.

Ms Lackey was in 1997 appointed New Zealand's first female Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

She earlier served as acting chief executive of the Pacific Islands Affairs Ministry, deputy high commissioner in Ottawa, consul general in Los Angeles, and director of the Foreign Affairs Ministry Americas Division.

The relationship with Australia affected more aspects of New Zealanders' lives than any other, Mr Goff said.

"I am confident that Kate Lackey will bring her full energies and previous experience to bear on maintaining and developing this most important relationship," he said.

"Often the focus of the trans-Tasman link is on our sporting contests, but there are also vital ties economically, politically and people-to-people links in all sectors."

New Zealand exports to Australia had grown 66 per cent faster than overall exports.

While economic interaction is of fundamental importance, so was the defence relationship, with constructive co-operation in East Timor, the Solomon Islands, and elsewhere.

- NZPA