New Zealand and Australia

Press, 27 May 1978, Page 14

New Zealand and Australia

What sort of a relationship does New Zealand want with Australia and what is it likely to get? These are the basic questions which remain after the annual Foreign Policy School run by the department of university extension in the University of Otago. The theme of the school was relations between New Zealand and Australia. Questions about the relationship go back to the beginnings of what were then British colonies When the Australian colonies federated. New Zealand chose to stay out. Although political union has hardly seemed a serious question since then, the idea is taken out and given a dusting from time to time. The Foreign Policy School barely touched the dust on that subject, but a number of speakers talked about various forms of a trading relationship.

The school was timely. In September of last year the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Mr Taiboys), in a major foreign policy speech, said: “The time has come for New Zealand to recognise that our relationship with Australia is more important to us than our links with any

other country in the world. I believe we do recognise this fact instinctively, at the back of our minds. We have to bring it to the forefront, make it explicit in our thinking and in our actions. It has to be the cornerstone of New Zealand’s external policies.” Mr Taiboys then demonstrated this view by touring extensively in Australia early this year. At official levels, at least, the tour was very well received in Australia.

Thoroughly briefed for his visit, Mr Nick Parkinson, .the Australian Secretary of Foreign Affairs attended the school, as did Mr Angus Paltridge, First Assistant Secretary of the Australian Department of Trade and Resources. Another official from Canberra, three from the Australian High Commission in Wellington, including the High Commissioner, Mr L. H. Border, attended the meetings. The diplomatic weight of these officials alone showed that the Australian Government and official representatives were taking the whole matter seriously. New Zealand is greatly interested in the prospects for further trade Sir

Frank Holmes, chairman of the New Zealand Planning Council, who was the keynote speaker at the school, argued that a political will should be expressed in favour of expanding the New Zealand Australia Free Trade Agreement until all the trade entered Schedule A, the free trade schedule. He thought that the time for this could stretch over a decade or more. One of the school’s more startling incidents came when Mr Parkinson spurned his prepared address to describe what sort of a country Australia was and What its concerns were. Although New Zealand is the biggest market for Australian manufacturers, Mr Parkinson reinforced the conclusion that Australia looms larger in New Zealand consciousness than New Zealand figures in the thinking of Australians. New Zealand

must also grasp the fact that Australia is changing rapidly, not least because of its huge immigration from southern Europe. There is no guarantee that the close relationship between New Zealand and Australia will continue forever along familiar lines.

Australia is unlikely to do much more than has been formally agreed upon to make the relationship closer. Any initiative must therefore come from New Zealand, if this seems warranted. Australia is not going to throw open its markets for New Zealand when it has such serious unemployment problems. Why should it do so? Australia already has a special trading relationship with New Zealand but it is unlikely

that this will expand dramatically. Various defence agreements already exist; considerable trade —most of it covered by N.A.F.T.A. — flourishes; the two countries have a free flow of migrants and tourists, which means, in effect, a free labour market. Innumerable bodies and companies have links across the Tasman. Does New Zealand, or Australia, want something else? Although arguments for something more formal can be put up, the arguments for continued informality are also strong. Because of the unique relationship between the two countries, precedents for further links are not easily found.