Finance Minister Bill English on Tuesday travelled to Australia to discuss the economic crisis with senior ministers there including Treasurer Wayne Swan.
The recession is starting to bite across the Tasman, with the government there announcing its forecast tax revenue has fallen by another $A75 billion.
Unemployment is on the rise and governments on both sides of the Tasman are considering ways of alleviating the worst effects of the recession.
Labour Party finance spokesperson David Cunliffe said tougher times in Australia are likely to lead to New Zealanders heading home when they lose their jobs.
Mr English said that is possible, and the Government wants to build a strong economy so that when the recession ends there are jobs for those who return from Australia and New Zealand does not lose them again.
He said numbers of New Zealanders leaving are already slowing because prospects in other countries are not as good as they were.
Green Party co-leader Russel Norman is urging the Government to reconsider a programme to insulate homes in an effort to provide jobs and cut greenhouse gas emissions.
He said initiatives of that nature would be in line with those being done in Australia and proposed by President Barack Obama is proposing in the US.
Economic integration will feature prominently in the trans-Tasman talks. Mr English said he wants to speed up moves towards a single trans-Tasman economic market.
Fears 'overblown'
An Australian academic says fears that migrant workers returning to New Zealand will cause a beneficiary boom are overblown.
University of Adelaide geography professor Graeme Hugo said the trans-Tasman shift is not a result of the economic downturn, as even in good economic times many New Zealanders intend to return.
Professor Hugo said it is a common trend, however, for migrant workers to return to their home countries when work runs out.
