New Zealand has taken another step towards potentially joining what's known as the "second pillar" of the AUKUS military group with Australia, the United States and the united kingdom. A team of Australian officials will travel to New Zealand to brief their counterparts as they look for ways to cooperate on high end military technology.
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TVTranscript
00:00 We do have a new-ish government in New Zealand.
00:04 We saw National seize power after an election last year.
00:07 There was a long period of negotiation.
00:10 The Luxembourg government is now in power.
00:12 And while there hasn't been a big shift, there's more continuity than change, it is a little
00:17 bit more willing than the previous government perhaps to really build up strong defence
00:21 links not just with Australia, but also with the United States.
00:25 And perhaps the best demonstration of this is the fact that this government is a little
00:28 bit more keen than the old one perhaps to look very hard at the question of joining
00:33 AUKUS.
00:34 Now it is worth remembering with AUKUS everyone understandably focuses always on pillar one,
00:40 that's the plan to build nuclear-powered submarines for Australia.
00:43 But there is this second pillar also quite important to develop high-end and advanced
00:48 military technologies.
00:49 Now a number of countries have expressed a loose interest in taking part in that, countries
00:54 like potentially Canada, Japan, but New Zealand is definitely the most interested and it's
01:00 definitely the one where there's been most focus for the moment.
01:04 Now today the Defence Ministers and the Foreign Ministers of both countries sat down in Melbourne.
01:09 After that meeting the Defence Ministers from both countries were asked, well, what's going
01:13 to happen with AUKUS?
01:14 Will New Zealand join?
01:15 There was no announcement of that today, but the Defence Minister Richard Myles did say
01:20 that a team of Australian officials will travel to New Zealand soon to brief them on exactly
01:26 what's happening and to look at where New Zealand might be able to fit in and collaborate.
01:31 If it does happen it would be quite a big step.
01:34 Let's take a listen to what the Defence Minister Richard Myles had to say.
01:39 We have agreed to work much more closely together in terms of building interoperability and
01:46 interchangeability between our two Defence Forces.
01:49 In other words, we are committed to constructing two Defence Forces which are seamless in the
01:56 way in which we are operating.
01:59 Richard Myles there.
02:00 And Stephen, meanwhile, the Government seems to be hinting it might be willing to resume
02:04 funding for that major UN agency in Gaza which has been hit with terrorism accusations.
02:10 Yes, that's right.
02:12 Of course, Australia along with another of other countries essentially suspended or paused
02:16 funding to UNRWA while these allegations that its members were involved in the October 7
02:22 terror attacks is investigated.
02:25 The Government since then has come under some heavy fire from both the Greens and also some
02:29 advocacy groups and non-government organisations who say that effectively it's a form of collective
02:36 punishment of Palestinians for the potential crimes of a few.
02:40 Now the Government rejects that, but Penny Wong, the Foreign Minister, when she was asked
02:44 today exactly what are the conditions for resuming funding, without making any firm
02:49 commitments and stressing the seriousness of the allegations made against UNRWA, she
02:54 also said that it played a crucial role, that there was no other organisation that could
02:58 effectively provide the sort of humanitarian support that it does.
03:02 And she seemed to speak quite passionately about that.
03:05 Now that might hint that the Government is looking to actually wind back that decision
03:11 that it made and to resume funding to UNRWA.
03:14 Let's take a listen to what the Foreign Minister had to say.
03:17 More than 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering within UNRWA facilities.
03:24 And 3,000 of the workers for that association are working on the humanitarian response in
03:30 the most trying of conditions.
03:32 These are deeply concerning allegations and we have made clear they need to be thoroughly
03:38 investigated and those responsible need to be held to account and I have directed this
03:43 week Australia's humanitarian coordinator to lead urgent work coordinating with like-minded
03:48 partners as well as UNRWA on these and other matters.
03:54 So no final decision on that, Joe.
03:56 And we don't know when the Government will make a decision as to whether it will allow
04:00 funding to flow once again, but obviously it's something that's being watched very carefully,
04:05 not just in Canberra by politicians but also by the aid sector as well.
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