The Chief of the Defence Force, General David Hurley, has met with his counterparts from New Zealand and the United Kingdom for the biennial BRITANZ meeting, held on 23 January 2013.
Following successful bilateral meetings in Canberra earlier this week, General Hurley accompanied UK Chief of Defence General Sir David Richards to Queenstown in New Zealand to meet with New Zealand Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant General Rhys Jones.
“Our discussions covered a wide range of defence-related issues affecting our three countries from our mutual interests in operations in Afghanistan and recent developments in the Middle East, to Asia and Pacific maritime security,” General Hurley said.
Australia regards the United Kingdom and New Zealand as valued partners.
The recently signed Australia-United Kingdom Defence and Security Treaty formalised the longstanding relationship between the two nations, while the 2011 Australia-New Zealand Defence Relationship Review has deepened cooperation across the Tasman.
“The success of combined operations in Timor-Leste, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea in recent years has strengthened the Australia-New Zealand Defence relationship,” General Hurley said.
General Hurley also visited Christchurch where the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority provided a briefing on the city’s recovery.
“The Australian Defence Force was pleased to conduct heavy air lift and transport tasks to assist following the Christchurch earthquake in February 2011. There are many valuable lessons we can learn from New Zealand’s response to this devastating event,” General Hurley said.