By Anzac Day (April 25) next year, citizenship and voting rules are expected to be in place after consideration by an Australian Parliamentary Committee on Election Matters.
Australians living in New Zealand already have voting rights and the change would mean a mutual agreement between the two nations.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that while he did not want to prejudge the commission’s decision, a sensible approach was needed.
“We want to resolve these issues with all the implications there is for full participation in our respective societies,” he told reporters in Sydney on Friday.
“We don’t want people to be temporary residents forever.”
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern welcomed the proposal to recognize the contribution of New Zealanders in Australia.
“No New Zealander or Australian should be made ‘permanent temporary,’ which is a stark change from the way we’ve seen New Zealanders being treated here before,” she said.
“New Zealanders usually translate into (Australian) citizenship at a rate of about 30 percent; for other nationalities in Australia it’s closer to 60 percent, so that shows some of the barriers that exist.”
The leaders pledged in a joint statement after the meeting to open up citizenship pathways for migrants from both countries.
Joanne Cox of Oz Kiwi, an advocacy group for New Zealanders living in Australia, told AAP that an effort to include expatriates in Australian polls would be well received.
“It’s another step towards giving New Zealanders more rights and actually giving back the rights they would have otherwise lost,” she said.
Ms Cox said there had long been concerns about the institutions of so-called special category visas, which allow New Zealand citizens to live in Australia indefinitely.
Before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, there were more than 600,000 NZ citizens in Australia on the visas. Most visa holders have limited access to social security benefits.
Ms Ardern said her visit to Australia highlighted the deep common ground and shared values between the two countries.
“We described it as an opportunity for a reset in the relationship and it felt to me that we now have a work program in place that brings that reset to life,” she said.
‘Commonsense approach’ to 501 deportations
Mr Albanese said New Zealand citizens who committed crimes in Australia would be deported but again common sense would be followed.
“If you have a circumstance where someone has effectively lived all their life in Australia without any connection to New Zealand, then common sense should apply,” he said.
“We will act as friends and we will solve those problems.”
Next year will be the 80th anniversary of the Trans-Tasman Diplomatic Mission. In recognition, the two countries will host annual meetings between their respective ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defense and Climate Change, and treasurers.
Ms Ardern said she did not underestimate the importance of including the climate change portfolios in those meetings.
“There are ways we can work together, not just between New Zealand and Australia, but in the work we want to do in our own region of the Pacific, to play our part and strengthen our role,” she said. .
The talks focused on economic ties, regional security, indigenous cooperation and climate change.
There was also talk of cutting visa bureaucracy, eliminating investment in green technology and recognizing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.