Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum

Sydney, 21-22 August 2009

The Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF) is a business-led initiative designed to further develop Australia and New Zealand's bilateral relationship as well as our joint relations in the region. It brings together Ministers and leaders from business, government, academia and the public sector to create an independent platform for thinking about the Australia New Zealand relationship. The Forum was endorsed by then Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and his then New Zealand counterpart, Hon Phil Goff, in June 2002. The inaugural Forum was held in Wellington, 14-15 May 2004, the second Forum in Melbourne, 29-30 April 2005, the third in Auckland, 56 May 2006, the fourth in Sydney on 25-27 April 2007, and the fifth in Wellington on 13-14 June 2008.

A very successful sixth Forum meeting was held at the Sofitel Hotel in Sydney, 21-22 August 2009. The Forum was chaired by Rod McGeoch AM (Chairman of Sky City Entertainment Group Limited and Chairman Emeritus of Corrs Chambers Westgarth) and John Allen (newly appointed CEO, New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, previously CEO of NZ Post). There was extensive high-level Australian and New Zealand participation, including the largest Australian and New Zealand Ministerial delegations yet.

The 2009 ANZLF included sessions on: regional issues, focusing on regional free trade agreements and aid issues in the Pacific; climate change and clean technology opportunities; global economic conditions; defence; the scope to streamline trans-Tasman travel; the Australian taxation review; financial market regulation; and science and technology. Forum participants undertook to continue efforts to explore ways of further advancing the trans-Tasman relationship. Prime Ministers Rudd and Key addressed the forum at the Opening Dinner on 21 August.

The next Forum is expected to be held in the second half of 2010.