Australian PM Anthony Albanese jokes about taking over New Zealand

Video: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese raised eyebrows after joking on Nikki Osborne’s Bush Deep podcast that Australia could “take over” New Zealand, invoking a little-known constitutional relic during an alcohol-fuelled interview. (Nikki Osborne’s Bush Deep podcast)

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joked that Canberra could simply “take over” New Zealand, turning a boozy podcast appearance already engulfed in controversy into another uncomfortable display of big-country swagger across the Tasman.

The remarks emerged from Albanese’s appearance on comedian Nikki Osborne’s Bush Deep podcast, where the Australian leader discussed everything from his private life to pop star Kylie Minogue while drinking Scotch. Towards the end of the interview, Albanese concerningly turned his attention to New Zealand and Australia’s constitutional history.

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Image: Australian PM Anthony Albanese laughed as he joked that Australia could “take over New Zealand”, pointing to an unusual constitutional relic that still references this country. The remark was made in jest, not as government policy, but it has drawn attention to the unequal power dynamic that has long sat beneath the trans-Tasman relationship. (Nikki Osborne’s Bush Deep podcast)

“We could take over New Zealand. It’s still in our Constitution. We can just do it. Sorry,” Albanese said while laughing.

The comment was clearly delivered as a joke, not a statement of Australian government policy or fact. It still carries an uncomfortable undertone for a supposedly equal trans-Tasman relationship, particularly when it comes from the leader of the larger and more powerful country.

Albanese was referring to an historical quirk in Australia’s founding documents.

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New Zealand is named alongside the Australian colonies in the Constitution’s definition of potential states, a relic of late-19th century federation discussions in which New Zealand ultimately chose its own path. Australia’s Constitution also provides for Parliament to admit or establish new states. It does not amount to a modern blank cheque allowing Canberra to march across the Tasman and annex an independent New Zealand at the Australian Prime Minister’s whim.

That distinction makes Albanese’s punchline a glimpse of the casual political arrogance that smaller Pacific nations have had reason to distrust from regional powers.

The joke also sits awkwardly beside the language Albanese’s own government uses when the cameras are rolling and the diplomatic statements are being drafted.

Just two months ago, Albanese and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon formally reaffirmed support for international law, Pacific-led regionalism and a trans-Tasman partnership built on cooperation between the two countries. Their June leaders’ statement described Australia and New Zealand as closely integrated partners and stressed the importance of respecting regional institutions and Pacific priorities.

Image: Australian PM Albanese may have meant it as a joke, but laughing about absorbing a sovereign neighbour revived an uncomfortable old power dynamic, one where Australia’s size and influence can too easily overshadow New Zealand’s independence. (Nikki Osborne’s Bush Deep podcast)

Those principles sound considerably less convincing when the Australian Prime Minister is laughing about absorbing his neighbour over a glass of whisky.

There is still a difference between ordinary rivalry and a head of government joking about invading another sovereign country. Independence is not Australian constitutional trivia and the Pacific is not Canberra’s backyard to inherit.

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Albanese may have been chasing a laugh. The joke landed on a much older idea, that the bigger country gets to decide what matters and everyone across the Tasman is expected to laugh along.

Canberra arrogance on show as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese jokes about taking over New Zealand

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