Australia wants to recruit New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel and is changing the rules to allow it to happen, Canberra says.
Anthony Albanese's government will tweak Australia Defence Force (ADF) criteria, allowing Kiwis who have lived in the country for at least a year to apply from July, the Herald Sun said.
"Australia and New Zealand have a longstanding relationship - opening the Australian Defence Force to New Zealanders living in Australia will increase opportunities whilst strengthening our ANZAC bond," Aussie deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles told the newspaper.
The rule change was an innovative way of reversing the ADF "recruitment shortfalls of the last government", Australia Defence Personnel Minister Matt Keogh said.
"Recruiting from a wider pool of people will help ensure our Australian Defence Force reflects the full diversity of Australia and is able to draw on the talents of the entirety of Australian society," he told the Sun.
But New Zealand Defence Minister Judith Collins' did not believe this would directly impact the NZDF.
"Given the eligibility criteria the Australian Defence Force has put in place for New Zealanders to join, including that people have to have lived in Australia for at least a year and cannot have served in a foreign military for at least the two previous years, I do not see this as having a direct impact on current NZDF serving personnel," she said in a statement.
Collins added Australia was "New Zealand's only ally, and we continue to have a very close relationship".
Australia has, in recent years, struggled to recruit ADF personnel and Keogh said the change would help grow the force. The Australian government wanted to boost the ADF to nearly 80,000 from around 57,000 by 2040.
"Defence continues to implement the comprehensive program of modernisation... However, the demands on the Defence workforce are changing," the government said its 2020 ADF structure plan.
The "larger number of more-complex capabilities" meant the ADF workforce needed to grow, according to the plan.
Earlier this year, Australia also launched a new campaign to poach some of New Zealand's best police officers.
It sparked bad timing for New Zealand's Coalition Government, with hundreds of officer vacancies across Aotearoa amid an ongoing pay dispute and "tough on crime" policies.
In last week's Budget, more than $225 million was allocated to help recruit and retain 500 new police officers in New Zealand.
The NZDF also got a near-$600m Budget boost, with some of that going towards personnel pay.
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