Same bed, different nightmares: strategic divergence in the Australia-New Zealand alliance

Despite the consistently positive rhetoric surrounding the Trans-Tasman alliance, this article identifies three trends contributing to a growing strategic divergence in the relationship that threaten its very viability. First, Australia's engagement with numerous new security groupings over the past decade has diminished the relative importance of its ties with New Zealand. Second, the ‘strategic personalities' of these antipodean allies are diverging, driven by a widening gap in their defence expenditures and increasingly distinct strategic relationships with the United States. Third, the article highlights how Canberra and New Zealand have embraced different visions for Asia’s strategic future, reflecting and exacerbating their divergence. The article concludes with policy recommendations aimed at understanding and addressing the deepening drift in Trans-Tasman strategic relations.