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Audrey Young: Why PM's visit to Australia was a positive move

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Sun, 21 Jul 2019, 11:12AM
Jacinda Ardern and her partner Clarke Gayford meet up with Australian PM Scott Morrison and his wife Jenny Morrison today. Photo / Pool

Audrey Young: Why PM's visit to Australia was a positive move

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Sun, 21 Jul 2019, 11:12AM

A meeting between Jacinda Ardern and Scott Morrison is a positive sign for trans-Tasman relations.

The two Prime Ministers met in Melbourne on Friday for an unofficial catch-up, as part of Ardern's Australian visit. 

Ardern and Morrison posed for photos ahead of their hour-long morning tea meeting.

The meeting was not an official bilateral meeting, rather more of a meeting between the two leaders and their partners.

NZ Herald political editor Audrey Young told Francesca Rudkin that Morrison made a special trip to Melbourne to meet Ardern.

"I thought that was a very symbolic sign of respect that he made the trip."

The Australian PM presented Ardern with a small, white stuffed toy for her daughter Neve ahead of their pair's meeting this morning.

"To add to the collection," Morrison said as his wife Jenny Morrison presented Ardern with the gift.

"This is for Neve, it's not for you," the Aussie Prime Minister added.

Ardern spoke up the relationship during the trip. She said she spoke to him on the phone more regularly than she ever did with former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

She was originally meant to visit in late March, but the trip was postponed because of the Christchurch terror attacks.

Also making a foreign trip this week was Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, who visited the USA with a free-trade deal on his mind.

Young said that it is a slightly strange obsession of Peters, who she says has never been a great free-trader.

"I think he's probably looking for a legacy."

Young said Peters is likely driven by the fact National tried and failed.

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