Australian and NZ officials and experts met in Wellington on 3 July to discuss implications of the international outlook for our respective and shared security policy responses. The establishment of a regular Australia-New Zealand 1.5 Track Dialogue stems from a recommendation in the 2011 Review of the Australia-New Zealand Defence Relationship. In addition to ASPI and NZ Centre for Security Studies staff, participants included the Australian newspaper’s Rowan Callick, ANU’s Professor Paul Dibb, and the Lowy Institute’s Murray McLean. Discussions focused on implications for defence policy of changing global and regional security dynamics. One area of particular interest was whether the two countries’ policy approaches to a similar reading of the strategic environment are diverging.

The following Strategist posts were sparked by the dialogue:

• NZ defence capability: running to stand still by Andrew Davies
• An Australia-New Zealand defence gap? Political more than technical by Robert Ayson
• ANZAC divergence—where to from here? by Karl Claxton