Andrew Barr to travel to New Zealand for meeting of business and government leaders

Mr Barr will spend two days in Wellington, where he will also focus on progressing a sister city agreement with the New Zealand capital and reinstating flights between the two capitals.

The trip will cost $9000.

The Chief Minister will attend the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum on Wednesday, which brings together government and business to focus policy issues with governments on both sides of the Tasman.

There will also be a dinner reception with the New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins.

Mr Barr will also meet with the Wellington City Council and the Wellington Airport.

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The Chief Minister has been lobbying for flights between Canberra and New Zealand for years. There used to be flights between the two capitals but these were scrapped.

Mr Barr travelled to New Zealand last year to lobby for direct flights. This year he has also travelled to Singapore and South Korea and Japan.

A ministerial briefing, released under freedom of information earlier this year, showed planned trips for ACT officials to the United Kingdom, France, Spain, New Zealand, the United States, Thailand, Vanuatu, Indonesia and Singapore over this financial year.

Further trips to China, Singapore, India, Thailand, Vietnam and the US are planned for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 financial years, the briefing showed.

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