Jacinda Ardern to meet with new Australian PM Anthony Albanese and Samoan PM

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has confirmed meetings with her counterparts of Australia and Samoa, and says she won’t shy away from controversial issues such as Australia’s 501 deportations policy.

Ardern will be the first foreign leader to meet with Australia’s new prime minister Anthony Albanese on Australian soil when she and Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson travel across the Tasman later this week.

Next week, Ardern also confirmed Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataʻafa​ would visit New Zealand.

Fiame​‘s trip to New Zealand, marking her first bilateral visit as Samoa’s prime minister, comes as Ardern and Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta face questions about how strong this country’s connections are with other Pacific nations.

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Ardern’s overnight trip to Australia would include her first face-to-face meeting with Albanese as prime minister. However, the two leaders have known each other for years.

Ardern said she had spoken with “Albo” a number of times since he became prime minister and had met with him on both sides of the Tasman before he was prime minister.

Robertson would stay in Australia until Saturday, meeting with companies such as Costco and Australian politicians including Federal Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers.

Over dinner in Sydney, she hoped to “get to know” Albanese better and said she would raise contentious issues such as the country’s deportation policy and its stripping of the rights of New Zealanders living there.

“We have seen some really extreme examples, those who have little to no connection to New Zealand being deported to New Zealand. Then, we see the consequences of that anti-social behaviour and their lack of a connection here at home,” she said.

She said she would also push for Australia to restore the rights of New Zealanders working there to access social security and disability care. Ardern pointed out Kiwis, “who are taxpayers and filling skills gaps”, cannot access the same standard of education or accident compensation.

“We have seen some really distressing situations, so yes, it will be an issue I continue to advocate on,” she said.

When Fiame, Samoa’s prime minister, visits New Zealand next week, Ardern said she hoped to discuss the major challenges facing the Pacific – such as stability and climate change.

National Party foreign affairs spokesperson Gerry Brownlee criticised Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta for not travelling to the…