Re: NEW Casper Update - Australia and New Zeal....

Tony Abbott in NZ: Military and economic issues dominate talks with John Key at annual leaders' meeting

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-28/military-and-economic-issues--dominate-tony-abbotts-nz-talks/6270620?section=world

Redacted, as follows

Tony Abbott meets with John Key

Related Story: Joint deployment of troops to Iraq to dominate Abbott's NZ talks

A new joint military deployment to Iraq has dominated today's annual bi-lateral talks between Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his New Zealand counterpart, John Key.

Mr Abbott this morning sat down for formal talks with Mr Key, as he wrapped up his first official visit to New Zealand as Prime Minister.

Discussions between the leaders were dominated by national security and each country's respective economy.

"As our Kiwi friends may not fully appreciate, Australia has been heavily involved for some months now in the campaign against the Daesh [Islamic State] death cult," Mr Abbott told a press conference after the talks.

"What we are now considering is joining New Zealand on an additional training mission with the Iraqi regular army.

"We still have to finalise our processes in Australia and I expect that that will happen in the next few days."

The leaders also discussed the countries' economic ties, including their desire to see the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) concluded.

"There was as you would expect a broader economic discussion and the commitment on both sides to continue to follow what we saw yesterday was a strong message from Australian and New Zealand business leaders that we want to see further progress in terms of economic integration," Mr Key said.

This week New Zealand announced it would commit up to 143 soldiers as part of the joint military operation, a decision which has sharply divided public opinion.

And this from The Daily Telegraph

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/abbott-in-talks-with-iraq-on-more-training/story-fni0xqi3-1227241317525

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott says he'll formally commit Australian troops to a new training mission in Iraq once some outstanding processes are finalised.

MR Abbott did not say just where the problems lay but did say the announcement could come as soon as next Tuesday.

This could relate to finalising legal protections for Australian soldiers in Iraq.

The deployment of Australia's 200-member special forces team into Iraq last year was delayed while the agreement with the Iraqi government was negotiated.

New Zealand, whose deployment of up to 143 soldiers to the training mission was announced on Tuesday, faces the same problem.

Mr Abbott has certainly discussed this mission with his Iraqi counterpart Haider Al-Abadi.

"PM Al-Abadi received a phone call from Australian PM Tony Abbott. Discussed military cooperation including training of Iraqi Security Forces," the Iraqi leader tweeted on Friday.
Mr Abbott, in Auckland for talks with NZ Prime Minister John Key, said he was delighted NZ was on board and prepared to play its part in the wider world.

"This will be a modest but further step against the death cult. Should we finalise our processes as I expect in the next few days, it will be good to have our Kiwi partners with us," he told reporters.

Mr Key announced on Tuesday his country's soldiers will be part of a 400-member training team deploying for an initial nine-month period starting in May.

They will operate at Taji, a logistics base about 30km north of Baghdad.

Most of the Australian and NZ soldiers bound for Iraq won't actually train Iraqi troops. The joint team will contain a substantial security force to protect the trainers from insider or IS attack.

The centrepiece of Mr Abbott's visit to NZ will be bilateral talks with Mr Key on Saturday morning when they are expected to discuss global issues of national security and the joint operation in Iraq.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and her NZ counterpart Murray McCully discussed the mission in Auckland on Friday.

She told reporters the call between Mr Abbott and the Iraqi prime minister was part of "constant communication" with Baghdad.
"I'm not going into specific details of conversations ... but they are communicating over the issue of our commitment to supporting Iraq, take back territory and defeat ISIL," she said.

Australia was continuing to review the composition of its presence in Iraq and what more could be done to assist.
"It is not a matter of Australia making a unilateral decision as to how it wants to deal with its defence forces in Iraq," she said.

"It is done with the consent of, and at the invitation of the Iraqi government

BASTARDS, ........

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