Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is set to visit New Zealand on May 30 and 31, travelling to Queenstown for the annual leaders' meeting with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
It comes amid tension over Australia's deportees, sent to New Zealand despite having tenuous links.
When asked about what she would raise at the meeting, Ardern told media that "we've always been consistent on issues that are difficult in our relationship".
"We don’t allow these to just bank up — we share them at the time they are problematic for us."
Ardern said the meeting would be a chance to talk about "what’s next for our relationship".
Morrison is set to come with his wife, Jenny Morrison, arriving in Queenstown on May 30 and beginning talks with Ardern the next day.
"Discussions will centre on how Australia and New Zealand will meet the shared challenges we face. The key focus of the meeting will of course be our Covid-19 recovery as well as how we continue working together on key regional and security issues.
"An in-person leaders’ meeting reflects a significant achievement for both our countries and is highly unusual in the Covid-19 context. It’s a significant achievement to be able to host Prime Minister Morrison and Mrs Morrison on our shores."
The spat over Australia deporting people with tenuous links to New Zealand rose again earlier this year, after Australia's Nine News aired footage of a planeload of deportees in Australia destined for New Zealand. In the story, Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton referred to the deportations as "taking the trash out".
It spurred Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins to call it a "deplorable move by the Australian government", and Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta at the time said that Dutton’s comments "only serve to trash his own reputation". Australia also deported a 15-year-old to New Zealand.
Last month, Mahuta reiterated that New Zealand would not back down over the issue of deportees, raising the matter during her meeting with Australian counterpart Marise Payne.
Australia's 2014 law deports people who commit crimes back to New Zealand — even if they have spent most of their lives living overseas.
Ardern brought up the issue of deportees during her last face-to-face meeting with Australian PM Scott Morrison in February 2020.
"Send back Kiwis, genuine Kiwis — do not deport your people, and your problems.
"We will own our people. We ask that Australia stop exporting theirs," Ardern said at the time.
When asked at the time if the deportation policy was corrosive to the relationship, Morrison said, "you commit a crime here, you’re convicted, once you’ve done your time we send you home".
On if he would change the policy, he answered "no".
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