PM to visit Australia with Ministers

Prime Minister John Key will visit Australia from 27 to 29 January 2012 for the annual Australia-New Zealand Leaders’ Meeting and a joint meeting of senior Cabinet Ministers.

This will be the second time the Australian and New Zealand Prime Ministers have convened a joint meeting of senior Cabinet Ministers – the first was in 2009.

Mr Key will be accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Bill English and six other Ministers - Steven Joyce, Judith Collins, Tony Ryall, Hekia Parata, Jonathan Coleman and Craig Foss.

The travelling Ministers, several of whom have new portfolios with significant trans-Tasman responsibilities, will also have the opportunity to engage individually with their Australian counterparts.

In addition, the Ministers of Health and Commerce, Tony Ryall and Craig Foss, will take part in the first meeting on 28 January of the Ministerial Council to oversee work on establishing a joint therapeutics agency.

“The annual Leaders’ Meeting provides an opportunity for both countries to start the New Year with a focus on issues of mutual interest in domestic policies, the bilateral relationship and regional and international affairs,” says Mr Key.

“That Ministers on both sides of the Tasman have found time to participate in these meetings in January demonstrates the closeness of the trans-Tasman relationship.”

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has invited Mr Key and the New Zealand Ministers as guests of the Australian Government.