New Zealand Prime Minister lashes out at Australians

According to Anthony Albanese, a premiership by the New Zealand leader has had no impact on relations in Tasmania.

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Luxon has come under fire after making a joke during Question Time in Parliament disparaging the intelligence of Australians.

Mr Luxon said on Wednesday: ‘In my dealings with Australians it always pays to be incredibly simple.’

The comment was made in response to questions from New Zealand Opposition Leader Chris Hipkins about the government’s use of the Maori language, also known as te reo Maori.

Despite the comment, Albanese said it had not damaged ties with his Kiwi colleague.

“Christopher Luxon is a friend of mine, but I often think that even though we both speak English, sometimes we need interpreters with the Kiwi accent. Sometimes we miss things between us,” the prime minister told reporters in Sydney on Thursday.

“We are good friends and we are good mates. Sometimes we speak a different language, and then we both think we are speaking English.”

New Zealand’s Prime Minister will travel to Australia next Thursday for a two-day visit.

Anthony Albanese has ignored New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Luxon’s verbal dig at Australians.

Anthony Albanese and Chris Luxon

Mr Luxon’s comments came after New Zealand’s Culture Minister Paul Goldsmith ordered officials to remove several te reo expressions from an invitation to Matariki, the annual Maori New Year celebration.

The invitation was addressed to Tony Burke, Australia’s Minister for Multicultural Affairs.

The Maori words included the greeting ‘tena koe’ (meaning hello), the closing ‘naku noa, na’ (which became ‘kind regards’) and the dropping of the generally accepted Maori name for New Zealand: Aotearoa.

Te reo is an official language of New Zealand, along with sign language and de facto English. After decades of decline, Te reo is increasingly spoken by Maori, partly due to hostile government policies.

Luxon’s right-wing coalition – made up of the conservative National Party, the liberal free-market ACT and the populist NZ First party – has reduced its role in government since taking office in November last year.

The government has ordered civil servants to stop communicating in te reo. It has also asked government departments to change their names to English. Maori names, which had become more prominent during Jacinda Ardern’s government, are being dropped or deprioritized.

Mr Goldmsith’s instruction to remove the Maori greetings – which are common in New Zealand – drew criticism from Labour, particularly as the correspondence concerned Matariki, New Zealand’s only indigenous national holiday.

Mr Goldsmith said he didn’t think Mr Burke would know what Aotearoa meant.

“It’s hardly the scandal of the century. I just didn’t think there should be too much reo in it… I thought, let’s just keep it simple,” he said.

On Wednesday, Hipkins included Goldsmith’s letter in Parliament in a series of questions to Luxon about ministerial standards.

“I would like to say to that member that in this government we value te reo,” Mr Luxon said.

Mr Luxon is no stranger to Australia, having spent five years living in Sydney during his career at Unilever.

“I love Australia,” he told AAP in a 2022 interview.

“If I couldn’t be a Kiwi, I’d be an Aussie. Absolutely. I just love the confidence and optimism of the joint.”