Australian and New Zealand Defence Ministers Meet

Australian and New Zealand Defence Ministers Meet in Sydney

The Minister for Defence, Dr Brendan Nelson, met with his New Zealand counterpart, the Hon Phil Goff, in Sydney today to discuss key priorities for cooperation in an historically close and enduring defence partnership.

The annual bilateral dialogue reaffirmed the relevance of the Australia–New Zealand Defence relationship, and provided the opportunity to discuss ongoing priorities for practical cooperation in joint operations, capability development, logistic support, personnel development and command, control and communications.

Dr Nelson and Mr Goff agreed that while the alliance was strong, there was a continual need to revitalise and refocus the partnership to ensure both countries were well placed to address contemporary security challenges, particularly in our immediate region.

The Ministers noted the importance that both countries placed on promoting and supporting stability in the Pacific and Timor-Leste. In particular, they noted our strong and effective cooperation in recent and ongoing stabilisation and humanitarian response operations in Timor-Leste, Tonga and Solomon Islands.

Ministers underlined joint Australia-New Zealand continuing commitments to RAMSI’s work, based squarely on the support for RAMSI within the Solomon Islands and the arrangements for its activities set out in Solomon Islands’ legislation. They welcomed support for RAMSI and the basis for its activities from the Forum Review Team, which is finalising its response to Forum leaders.

Following the recent elections in Timor-Leste, Australia and New Zealand look forward to working with the new Government to assist in the development a security structure appropriate to Timor-Leste's needs.

Ministers agreed that the effectiveness of Australia and New Zealand’s combined operational efforts in the Pacific and Timor-Leste reflected the high levels of interoperability that the two defence forces have worked hard to attain. They expressed their commitment to further improving this interoperability, recognising the importance of seamless interaction between Australian and New Zealand troops, wherever they served together.

The Ministers also addressed global security concerns, in particular, the situation in Afghanistan, where both countries’ defence forces were currently deployed to support vital reconstruction efforts.

ENDS

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