By RNZ Online and Reuters
Judith Collins, the minister responsible for security, is in London for the Five Eyes ministerial meeting. Photo: Supplied
The minister responsible for security, Judith Collins, is in London for the annual Five Eyes ministerial meeting, which aims to strengthen measures to increase border security, counter terrorism and target people smugglers.
Ministers from the intelligence sharing network covering the US, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are meeting this week.
Judith Collins, the minister in charge of Defence, GCSB and NZSIS said New Zealand cannot work in isolation when dealing with national security.
She would also be meeting with counterparts in UK intelligence and defence, as well as members of the public service to focus on digital government and productivity.
"This week of engagements reaffirms New Zealand's steadfast dedication to global security and the collective effort required to address these in an increasingly complex and dynamic international environment."
Judith Collins says the Five Eyes and UK intelligence meetings will be a chance to focus on common challenges including countering terrorism, approaches to state threats, border security and tackling child sexual exploitation.
British interior minister Shabana Mahmood said measures to "smash criminal smuggling gangs" will be a focus of the Five Eyes talks.
"We will agree new measures to protect our borders with our Five Eyes partners, hitting people smugglers hard," said Mahmood, who was only appointed to her job on Friday after Prime Minister Keir Starmer reshuffled his ministers.
Countries across the world are wrestling with how to deal with the issue of migration, with the US President Donald Trump making a crackdown on legal and illegal immigration a central plank of his second White House term.
In Britain, it has become the dominant political topic, with the government under great pressure from rivals over how to deal with a record number of asylum claims and arrivals by migrants in small boats across the Channel.
Also at the talks will be US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Canada's Gary Anandasangaree and Tony Burke, Australia's Home Affairs Minister, as well as Collins and Mahmood.
As well as people smuggling, the group will discuss new measures to tackle those behind child sexual abuse online and how to stop the spread of deadly synthetic opioids, said the British Home Office.
- Reuters
