Is the ANZAC relationship dissolving into irrelevance?

All this has been achieved while both countries pursued their domestic concerns unhindered by the other and framed widely diverging foreign policies.

Is there still a fear lingering in the Kiwi folk memory that Australia covets its smaller neighbour as the seventh or maybe (if the North and South islands were separated) the seventh and eighth states? While the issue is occasionally raised, mostly by politicians and others seeking an easy headline, it has been off the serious agenda for decades. That does not mean to say a European Union-style community, with common borders and perhaps even a single currency, could not be sensibly pursued to everyone’s advantage.

We are dealing with mature democracies and populations quite capable of vetoing any developments they find unpalatable. Economic integration makes a great deal of sense and need not interfere with the social and cultural evolution of either country. Our relationship is without precedent in the international community, based on geography, shared traditions and common values, and has the strength and flexibility to adapt to changed circumstances.

There should be no hindrance to the development of divergent foreign policies or cultural attitudes - it may even be healthy to be viewed as two vigorous separate identities by the world at large. The tragedy would lie in this becoming an obstacle to the progress of economic integration that is of proven value to the peoples on both sides of the Tasman.