Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Any disaster in New Zealand is felt in Australia because there is scarcely an Australian home that is not linked in some way with homes across the Tasman. New Zealand is a juridically separate entity, but it is scarcely a foreign country. To almost all intents and purposes Australians are New Zealanders and vice versa.

So it was an honour to join the Governor-General and the Prime Minister at the remembrance service in Christchurch last Friday. I understand that this is the first time that Australia’s head of state, head of government and alternative head of government have joined together in another country in this way, but as the Prime Minister has just observed it was in fact the future monarch who was the star turn on that occasion. I do hope that the representatives of New Zealand’s oldest and closest friends at that service were of some comfort to the bereaved and to everyone who has lost family, friends, homes, businesses and income as a result of the disaster.

It was good to have the chance to meet a large contingent of Australian police who had been helping their New Zealand counterparts, and to observe the unanimity of purpose and action of Australian and New Zealand colleagues. It was also good to meet the New Zealand Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, and to be able to convey personally the solidarity of the Australian people at this sad time. Most of all, though, it was good to see the resilience of the Kiwis; as Prince William observed, they will stay strong.

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