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New Zealand interested in Aukus cybersecurity projects
New Zealand has expressed an interest in working with Australia and Pacific countries to boost cybersecurity – potentially under the Aukus banner.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, and her New Zealand counterpart, Nanaia Mahuta, addressed the media after they met in Canberra today.
Wong said it was an “excellent, productive” meeting covering a range of areas including the Indo-Pacific, the war in Ukraine, and Pacific regionalism. Wong said she appreciated New Zealand’s support for Australia to host a UN climate conference in partnership with Pacific island countries in 2026.
Mahuta said the two countries shared “many common perspectives”.
Asked about Aukus – which includes plans for nuclear-powered submarines, but also other work with the US and the UK on advanced technologies – Wong said:
I think New Zealand is aware of our rationale and our intention in relation to Aukus, which is about being able to ensure regional stability. At a time where there is a lot of competition and contest in the world, Australian comes to those arrangements, just as we come to our regional engagement, with the same perspective and the same objective.
We want a region that is peaceful, that is stable, that is prosperous, and in which sovereignty is respected and all of our work – whether it’s in our defence capability, or our diplomacy, or our engagement in education, on our labour movement position in relation to the Pacific – these are all about working towards that sort of region and ensuring all aspects of Australian power and Australian government engagement are directed to that end.
While the nuclear-powered submarines are clearly a joint project of Australia, the US and the UK, the three Aukus countries have signalled that other aspects of the security partnership could be done together with other close partners.
Mahuta said:
The Aukus arrangements aren’t a set of arrangements that New Zealand are a part of, neither do we seek to be a part of, however we have indicated that where there is a opportunity across the region to cooperate, for example, in areas such as cybersecurity, we remain open to those conversations.
