Australia-New Zealand Alliance Strengthens Amid Global Challenges: A 2025 Overview

Strategic Partnership Reaches New Heights

Australia and New Zealand continue to maintain their status as natural allies with a strong trans-Tasman sense of family, built on foundations of migration, trade, defence ties, and robust people-to-people connections.

Economic Integration and Trade Development

The Trans-Tasman Roadmap to 2035 serves as the guiding framework for the bilateral relationship, with both nations committed to advancing trans-Tasman integration and the Single Economic Market (SEM) to enhance resilience, growth and productivity in the face of global economic uncertainty.

A significant milestone was achieved on April 21, 2025, with the implementation of the Upgraded ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA). This enhanced agreement aims to create a more conducive environment for businesses, particularly small and medium enterprises, to seize opportunities across Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, while upholding an open, inclusive and rules-based multilateral trading system.

Strategic and Defence Cooperation

Both nations acknowledge they are facing the most unpredictable and dangerous strategic environment in decades, affirming the critical role of their alliance, underpinned by the ANZUS Treaty, in protecting and advancing their shared interests in the region.

The relationship between Australia and New Zealand represents the closest and most comprehensive of all bilateral relationships at the government level. Regular annual formal talks are held between Prime Ministers, Foreign Ministers, Defence Ministers, Trade Ministers, Climate Ministers, and Treasurers. The nations maintain close cooperation in global and regional forums, including the United Nations, World Trade Organization, APEC, East Asia Summit, ASEAN Regional Forum, and Pacific Islands Forum.

People-to-People Links

The strong connection between the two nations is evidenced by approximately 670,000 New Zealand citizens living in Australia, representing nearly 15% of New Zealand’s population, while about 75,000 Australians reside in New Zealand. The Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangements (TTTA) of 1973 continues to facilitate freedom of movement between the countries, and from July 2023, eligible New Zealanders residing in Australia have access to a new direct pathway to citizenship.