The operation was called ‘Trojan Compass’ and it’s a call sign of things to come. The Royal NZ Air Force No 40 Squadron aircraft, crew and detachment were deployed last month to RAAF Base Richmond in New South Wales to work as part of the Australian Defence Force, under Australian call signs, flying to locations across Australia and the Indo-Pacific.

“We were fully integrated into the Australian Defence Force’s tasking system and directly supported their operations in the southwest Pacific and into Southeast Asia,” says Squadron Leader Adam Palmer.

This week, Defence Minister Judith Collins has signed up New Zealand to an unprecedented level of ongoing military integration with Australia, in which the two countries’ armed forces work together on each other’s patches, on each other’s boats and planes, and each servicing the needs of the other.

In an interview with Newsroom, the veteran politician insists New Zealand won’t sacrifice its sovereignty or its independent foreign policy.

“Our decisions are our decisions. We are responsible for our people and they are responsible for theirs but, at the same time, clearly we have to work together. A country of our population with the fourth largest maritime search and rescue area in the world and the ninth largest exclusive economic zone, can’t also be looking after areas right up to Tonga and all the way back down to Antarctica, and do everything we need to do, without working together with Australia.

“And look, the sovereignty is absolutely with us. The fact is that I’d much rather be with the Aussies than anyone else. Even if they occasionally beat us at cricket, they’re still actually our best friends.”

What if the two nations take different strategic paths, as they did with the Anzus alliance, and again with the second Iraq war? “We often take different foreign policy stances,” she says. “The fact is, if we don’t want our people involved in an action, then we will say so, and then they’ll be pulled back. So they’re still under New Zealand command.”

At a joint media conference Richard Marles, Australia’s deputy prime minister and defence minister, paid tribute to Collins’ commitment to completing the deal before she retires at this year’s election. “I feel like we’ve done really, really good work together,” he said.

Collins and Marles announced the closer defence agreement on Tuesday evening, alongside the two countries’ foreign ministers at Parliament House in Canberra.

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“It’s 75 years since Anzus came into being, and Australia and New Zealand became formal allies,” Collins says. “But we go back, as Richard has said, way back to Gallipoli and the Boer War.

“Our alliance as peoples is built not only on our shared history, and our shared position in the world geographically, but actually our shared values. And never has there been such a time that we need to value those shared values.”

She says integrating the two countries’ armed forces will allow them to respond together to shared security challenges, such as international and transnational organised crime, drug trafficking, natural disasters, and increasingly, geo-strategic and political conflict.

The agreement extends to coordinating the military technology industries on both sides of the Tasman, she says, to foster a resilient defence industry and supply chain across both countries.

“I think we live in the most dangerous times that I have ever known in my lifetime, and it’s so important to have good friends who you can rely on,” says Collins.

The two countries have also agreed to work closely with Pacific Island partners to lift capability and interoperability in the region.

Collins confirms New Zealand is finalising a decision on two new frigates – either the Japan-designed Australian-manufactured Mogami-class, or the UK’s Type 31 frigates, which she says are cheaper. “If I knew right now what the answer was, I probably still wouldn’t tell you, because we probably want to announce it,” she says. “But no, we haven’t made any decision yet.” 

However, the intense focus on interoperability makes the Mogami-class a clear frontrunner, as that’s what the Australian Navy will be operating. Marles announced last year that Australia would upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates, some built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries but most built in Australia.

‘Working with a foreign nation has been excellent and we have learnt a lot from each other along the way.’

Flight Lieutenant Riley Kennedy, Australian Defence Force

Australia is in the middle of a major military restructuring, turning towards long-range strike capabilities to better respond to China’s naval might. It is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next 10 years.

That country’s investment in new technology will provide New Zealand personnel a chance to train on newer hardware – and when the two countries choose to procure the same hardware such as their new Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk maritime helicopters, to get a head start on that training.

Collins isn’t concerned about any potential for NZ Defence Force personnel to be subsumed into the strategy and culture of the biggest Australian Defence Force. “I don’t know that their culture is so terrible. Their culture’s very similar to our own. I mean, we have enormously shared values.”

This week’s statement talks about each country being a “force multiplier” for the other – a change in language from previous statements in which New Zealand was characterised more as an appendage to the Australian forces. Did Collins push for that?

“I didn’t have to fight for it,” she says. “It’s a partnership of equals. Yes, they are a bigger equal as such, but we’re both sovereign nations. And I think you can see from that press conference a tremendous amount of respect both ways, between the Australians and the New Zealanders.”

Over in New South Wales in Operation Trojan Compass, Royal NZ Air Force logistics officer Flight Lieutenant Kelsey May worked alongside her Australian counterpart, Flight Lieutenant Riley Kennedy. 

“It has been a good learning opportunity for all of us,” she said. “What has been working really well is that we have similar machinery and similar aircraft. It makes it easy for us to prepare freight and load as we have the same processes and procedures.” 

Kennedy agreed. He said interoperability was the key outcome of the exercise. “Working with a foreign nation has been excellent and we have learnt a lot from each other along the way.”