Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Australian PM Anthony Albanese are committing to work on streamlining citizenship options for New Zealanders living in Australia, promising to have options on the table by Anzac Day next year.
The pair announced a second significant move in the relationship, with Albanese saying Australia would take a "common sense" approach to its 501 visa policy - which has seen people with tenuous links deported to New Zealand.
Albanese also pledged that Australia would consider giving New Zealanders more equal voting rights, making no commitments to change but calling it a "really common sense position", as Australian residents can vote in New Zealand after a year.
He acknowledged there had been a range of issues raised relating to citizenship and hoped the possible pathways to citizenship would enable people to get "more rights that are more consistent, whether it be Australians who have moved to New Zealand or New Zealanders moving to Australia".
"We want to work through these issues with all the implications that are there for full participation in our respective societies."
Ardern said New Zealand's "ask has been for there to be a greater acknowledgement of the role that is that New Zealanders play here in Australia".
Ardern said it was a "step change" in the way New Zealanders are treated in New Zealand, with statistics showing only 30% of New Zealanders there received citizenship in Australia compared to a percentage of 60% on average for people from other countries.
501s
Albanese said Ardern had "certainly not been backward in in raising these issues".
The policy will continue to exist and Australia "will continue to deport people when appropriate but we will have some common sense apply here".
However, he said where there is a person who has lived their entire life effectively in Australia, "with no connection whatsoever to New Zealand, then common sense should apply".
It was a contrast to earlier this week, where Ardern played down expectations there would be major progress on the 501 deportation issue.
On her visit to Sydney last month, the Australian Prime Minister agreed to look at the issue where Australian criminals are sent to New Zealand, despite often having little or no connection here.
During Ardern and Albanese's first formal meeting in June, Ardern said there was "a real awareness" of long-raised issues such as the 501 deportees.
Albanese said at the time the 501 policy would be maintained, but "we've heard the very clear message from the PM (Ardern), as I've heard before".
"There can be no argument the Prime Minister has been very forceful in her views and we have listened to those views. We will work through some of those issues between now and we will have a Ministerial meeting next month."
Australia's 2014 law deports non-citizens who commit crimes and have been sentenced to more than 12 months. It sends people back after serving their sentence, even if the person has spent most of their lives in Australia.
The spat over Australia deporting people with tenuous links to New Zealand rose up again last year, after Australia's Channel 9 aired footage of a planeload of deportees in Australia destined for New Zealand. In the story, then-Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton referred to the deportations as "taking the trash out".
It spurred Cabinet Minister Chris Hipkins to call it a "deplorable move by the Australian Government" and Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta said at the time said that Dutton’s comments "only serve to trash his own reputation".
Ardern brought up the issue of deportees during her last face-to-face overseas meeting prior to the pandemic, with former Australian PM Scott Morrison in February 2020.
"Send back Kiwis, genuine Kiwis - do not deport your people, and your problems," she told him.
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