NZ-Oz merger 'coming, but not yet'

John Key can have a laugh with Australian leader Kevin Rudd, but he's not talking about a merger. Photo / Getty Images

Former Deputy Prime Minister and Commonwealth Secretary General Sir Don McKinnon believes union with Australia is probably inevitable, but not for a while.

Sir Don was commenting on a poll conducted on both sides of the Tasman by UMR Insight about the possibility of New Zealand joining Australia as the seventh state.

Almost 25 per cent of New Zealanders and 37 per cent of Australians supported the idea; 71 per cent of New Zealanders and 52 per cent of Australians opposed it.

Sir Don said no political leader was going to win an election advocating such a merger.

"I believe it's inevitable but it's probably the next generation and it's going to be driven by people who want it because the transtasman activity will be that much more intense," he said on TVNZ's Q+A yesterday.

He suggested that the income divide between the two countries would make the idea of joining Australia more attractive to New Zealanders.

"I think there's a lot of people thinking 'well, if we are going to get that poor in relation to Australia, maybe we should be catching those coat-tails'."

One of National's trademark policies is to catch up with Australia by 2025.

But Prime Minister John Key was not keen last night on discussing the concept of joining the Australians instead of beating them.

His spokesman said union with Australia was "not a Government priority or on our radar and we aren't interested in commenting on that poll".

"There are plenty of other weighty issues that we are focusing on, but that's not one of them."

The poll included 1000 New Zealanders and 1000 Australians. Almost half of the New Zealanders polled, 48 per cent, believe their standard of living would stay about the same if New Zealand joined Australia, 53 per cent believed their lifestyle would stay the same and 53 per cent believed education would stay the same.

Race relations would worsen in New Zealand under an Australian Government, 60 per cent said. Defence would improve, 64 per cent believed.