“This is what you’ve all come here for,” Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese quipped as he and New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins sauced up their sausages and bread under the watchful eye of a media pack hungry for the prized shot: politician eats food.
It was at a barbeque in Brisbane on Sunday to celebrate about 200 New Zealanders getting dual citizenship, and what better way to mark it than sharing the Transtasman delicacy.
It followed the historic announcement a day earlier from Albanese about new pathways to citizenship specifically for New Zealanders in Australia, which he said “normalised relations to where they should always have been”.
With citizenship pathways also addressing the 501 deportations issue in the long term and two of the most contentious issues between the countries in decades now largely resolved, the two prime ministers were understandably in good spirits.
They were mobbed by supporters, many thanking Albanese for pushing through the new policy. Some, though, were definitely a little peeved they had already spent thousands of dollars and years of their lives on the issue before the announcement.
“I am happy, it is really good to see,” said Erin Baker, who just received her new citizenship after three years and spending thousands of dollars. “I do just wish it happened a little sooner.”
For Abraham Mahuika, though, it means that from July 1, after 14 years of living and working in Australia and raising a family, he can finally get the full rights of citizenship.
His wife has dual citizenship and, as Māori Women’s Welfare League regional branch manager, advocates on behalf of Kiwis lacking basic rights.
“You want to be able to have a safeguard if things do go wrong. Nobody plans to get in a motorcycle accident, no one plans to suffer from domestic violence or suffer from homelessness.
“This puts us on a level playing field now.”
Hipkins earlier acknowledged the irony of a New Zealand PM celebrating such a thing but said the fact that he could spoke to the “closeness” of the two countries.
There is also a “closeness” in the style of the two leaders, each borrowing from the “normal bloke” playbook of Prime Ministers past.
For Albanese’s love of a sausage, Hipkins recently shared his love of a good ol’ steak and cheese pie.
Chowing into any kind of food without hesitation in front of dozens of cameras speaks to the similar styles of the two. Former New Zealand leaders have vowed never to eat in front of a camera.
As they greeted each other, the two shared a bit of banter about rugby league, Albanese hyping up the fortunes of his favourite team, the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
But beneath the banter, another quality the two appeared to share was in not answering the difficult questions, which is really what the hungry media pack was there for, after all.
The key focus of the weekend was the citizenship announcement, flagged by Albanese in July last year and which in a two-for-one will also act as a long-term solution to the “corrosive” 501 deportation policy.
The question on everybody’s mind was the potential to increase the “brain drain” of Kiwis moving across the Tasman to chase higher wages and warmer climes. The secondary question was how much labour shortages in critical areas in Australia played into that, at a time when New Zealand is facing the same.
With citizenship now guaranteed after four years, it seems this will undoubtedly factor into people’s future calculations.
Hipkins was quick to dismiss this while admitting there was no way to calculate it.
Albanese joked that he welcomed “all of your smartest and brightest, but I haven’t met a Kiwi who wasn’t smart or bright”.
He also said it wouldn’t result in more Kiwis coming to Australia, only make things fairer.
Albanese too did not provide any evidence to back that claim up. He also did not address the part of the question about whether targeting New Zealand’s talented workers was a motive.
He was also unable to say how much the policy might cost in terms of welfare support.
This issue was the very reason given back in 2001 for removing social security rights and citizenship pathways of Kiwis in the first place.
Home Affairs Minister Claire O’Neill earlier said they would not release that information until after the upcoming Budget. She said the four-year window before citizenship, when Kiwis would still be devoid of many rights, meant it was unlikely the floodgates would open.
But perhaps the least-answered of the questions was when it came to regional security issues, namely the trilateral security pact between Australia, United Kingdom and the United States known as Aukus.
With a nuclear submarine deal one of the first initiatives, it has certainly ruffled feathers across the Pacific and Asia, and put New Zealand in a difficult place with its bold but longstanding nuclear-free stance.
New Zealand has been considering the non-nuclear component of the pact, which has already drawn concern from Pacific partners.
Asked directly if this had come up in their conversations, Hipkins said there was “not a formal process in place to have that conversation” and that it was “not discussed in any great depth”.
When Albanese was asked about it in the stand-up, he was equally evasive about the future role of New Zealand
but the two were both excited to talk up future economic opportunities, working together on climate change, and addressing regional issues in the Pacific.
The press conferences were a little scant on details about what exactly those partnerships would entail, but with now two of the biggest issues in transtasman relations largely resolved, some might forgive them for taking a breath and just enjoying their sausages and bread.
And with Albanese promising a New Zealand visit in the near future, the next steps in transtasman relations will surely be worked out over a steak and cheese pie.
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