John Key visited Australia today to meet the new Prime Minister, Tony Abbott.
Listen to Sept 13th 2013 to hear more about the new Australian Prime Minister.
John Key’s visit was just for one day but in that short time, the two men talked about matters that affect both countries. They will meet again at the APEC conference next weekend in Indonesia. Mr Abbott visited Indonesia on Monday, partly to talk about how to stop boat people from coming to Australia.
Listen to April 20th 2009 to hear more about the problem of boat people.
When John Key had talks with a previous Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, he promised that New Zealand would take 150 boat people who arrived in Australia. However, Tony Abbott said that he would not allow that. They have to go to the islands of Nauru or Manus but not to Australia or New Zealand. He does not want to make it attractive for these people to come to Australia.
Tony Abbott repeated what Julia Gillard had said about New Zealand and Australia being like family. He hopes to visit New Zealand next year.
Vocabulary
APEC – Australia, Pacific Economic Cooperation
previous – earlier (Note ‘the previous’ means the one just before Mr Abbott whereas ‘a previous’ means an earlier one.)