Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister of New Zealand, and Daniel Andrews, the premier of Victoria, had an uneasy reunion but promised to keep in contact.
In 2020 and 2021, when the two leaders gained notoriety for implementing some of the strictest regulations in the world during the Covid epidemic, Ardern said she had maintained regular communication with Andrews.
The two met in Melbourne for the first time since the lockdowns were removed, but at a time when some medical officials are pushing for a return to severe restrictions, the Victorian premier uncomfortably grabbed Ardern’s shoulder and embraced her.
Ms Ardern is in Australia on a trade and tourism mission, during which she will also meet NSW premier Dominic Perrottet.
‘New Zealand and Victoria have a great bond, a great friendship,’ Andrews said.
‘We’ve got almost an MCG’s worth of kiwis living here and they make a really important difference across the economy.’
Ardern hopes to entice Australians to visit New Zealand as the country finally scraps restrictions on overseas travellers after two years of rigorous Covid restrictions.
She also recently met Australia’s new prime minister Anthony Albanese, with the two music fans exchanging gifts including band t-shirts and vinyl records.
While Ms. Ardern blocked New Zealand’s borders for more than a year in an effort to eradicate the virus from NZ, Mr. Andrews declared Melbourne the most heavily fortified city in the world for a total of 263 days.
Both of the leaders suffered by their occasionally draconian Covid leadership, but Ms. Ardern’s decline in the NZ polls was due to the forced quarantine system, which she despised.
Ms. Ardern has lost a lot of the popularity she formerly enjoyed.
The National/Act NZ alliance has the highest lead under Ms. Ardern’s leadership, with a seven percentage point advantage over Labor and the Greens according to the most recent surveys.
In their meeting on Tuesday, Mr. Andrews emphasized the value of his conversations with the feisty New Zealand PM.
It is believed that Ms. Ardern communicated with Mr. Andrews more frequently than any other Australian leader throughout the outbreak.
On Tuesday, the two leaders discussed climate change, mental health and infrastructure and vowed to stay in touch.
While MrAndrews has been called Australia’s Jacinda Ardern because of the similarities to her approach, she was also compared to WA premier Mark McGowan, who made no secret of his isolationist approach.
Mr. McGowan and Ms. Ardern were welcomed to Australia for a barbecue by cheeky lamb marketing billboards.
Ms. Ardern has traveled extensively this past year.
She left New Zealand to meet with Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, and the leaders of Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands, as well as to appear on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.