Nearly running over the Australian Deputy Prime Minister with a pink Mars rover isn’t quite the history Defence Minister Judith Collins had in mind when she left for an historic meeting with her Aussie counterpart this week.
Collins and Foreign Minister Winston Peters are in Melbourne today meeting Australian Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, and Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
It’s the first time the foreign and defence ministers of the two countries have met in the format, dubbed ANZMIN, which echoes the more famous AUSMIN format in which Australia’s ministers meet with the US Secretary of Defence and Secretary of State.
Top of the agenda is potential participation in Aukus, the deal between Australia, the United States and United Kingdom.
The new government is keen to explore association with the non-nuclear aspects of that agreement, although there is little detail yet of what that would entail.
Other questions include New Zealand’s contributions to the Ukrainian conflict. New Zealand has not announced any aid to Ukraine since last year’s Budget and there is growing concern it is lagging behind other backers.
Procuring inter-operable defence technology is also on the agenda. Both countries are reviewing their defence capabilities and New Zealand has said it wants to be able to seamlessly deploy defence assets with Australia.
The day got off to a surprising start when Collins was treated to a showcase of the best new technology being developed by students at Monash University in Melbourne.
The tech included a pink Mars rover designed to showcase women in Stem (science, technology, engineering, maths).
Collins was particularly taken with the Rover, and jokingly asked whether she could have one herself.
“I love the pink robot! Maybe I could have one?” she joked.
Collins later took the controls to pilot it. As the Rover sprang into life, it headed in the direction of Marles, who quickly hopped out of the way.
“That would have been bad!” Collins said as Marles swiftly moved out of range.
Collins moved the rover to again face Marles.
“Judith, you’re lining me up!” Marles protested.
“This is great! We should definitely have one in the office,” Collins said.
'Challenging times'
The afternoon’s meetings took a far more serious tone. In opening remarks, the ministers warned of the challenging times.
Wong said the world was being “reshaped” but that the two countries could respond to that reshaping through the strength of their partnership.
“We often speak about the challenging strategic circumstances we face ... the fact that the region and the world are being reshaped, and we see this partnership as a central part of how we will respond to that reshaping because we share so much. We not only share history ... but as you have spoken about we share values."
Peters said he had come to Australia under “difficult circumstances”, referring to the state of the world.
“What we’ve got to do now is have greater maturity, greater intensity than I remember in my time anyway,” he said.
“It’s also a sense of importance ... national importance for my country ... that we’re here to contribute with our closest long-term ally and in the part of the world ... [there are] troubled challenges now."
Foreign policy observers have noted the new government appears keep to move closer to New Zealand’s traditional security partner, the US and only formal ally, Australia.
University of Otago professor of international relations Prof Robert Patman urged caution said this movement, in particular Aukus, would come at a “diplomatic cost”.
“One of the great benefits New Zealand has enjoyed has been able to show that it believes in unity rather than uniformity.
“If we move into a position where we go for a pillar ii participation in Aukus, that could I think upset quite a few of our Pacific Island neighbours.
“It’s interesting that a number of Pacific island states actually criticised Australia’s participation in Aukus,” he said.
