Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is returning serve after Prime Minister Christopher Luxon made fun of New Zealand’s transtasman cousins in Parliament.

Yesterday, Luxon responded to questions from the Opposition about how Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Paul Goldsmith told his staff to “simplify” an invitation sent to his Australian counterpart for Matariki celebrations by removing “Aotearoa” and “tēnā koe”.

In the House, Luxon quipped, “It pays to be incredibly simple and clear and use English”, when talking to Australians.

Luxon’s joke has reportedly made its way to Albanese. In previous interactions, the duo appeared to get on well with Luxon having known Albanese through his former role as Air New Zealand chief executive.

Christopher Luxon shakes hands with Anthony Albanese in Sydney. Photo / Adam Pearse

According to Sky News, Albanese responded by saying that the Kiwi accent was sometimes hard to understand and he “might need an interpreter” sometimes.

Luxon, speaking today at a media conference in Wellington, laughed at Albanese’s retort and when asked for his thoughts, Luxon uttered with a grin the Māori greeting, “Tēnā koutou katoa”.

Earlier, he said he relished how New Zealand and Australia could “poke fun” at each other.

Today, 1News reported that Australian minister Tony Burke, who’d received one of Goldsmith’s invitations, said he’d learned the word Aotearoa from the Split Enz classic, Six Months in a Leaky Boat.

The 1982 song contained the lyrics: “Aotearoa, rugged individual, glisten like a pearl, at the bottom of the world”.

Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.