By Samantha Hayes
Fallout from the Australian Prime Minister's messy clash with protesters earlier in the week has overshadowed Prime Minister John Key’s trip to Melbourne, where he has travelled to with with seven ministers in tow.
Overnight one of Julia Gillard’s staff resigned after admitting he had been involved in tipping off protesters about Tony Abbott's whereabouts on Australia day.
The Australian Prime Minister’s office says her press secretary made an error of judgment when he told an unnamed source where opposition leader Tony Abbott would be on the afternoon of the protest, an act which effectively sparked the fracas.
Mr Key is visiting the country for the annual meeting that takes place between Australia Day and Waitangi Day where the Prime Ministers of New Zealand and Australia hold a leaders' meeting to hash out key issues for the year ahead.
The bi-lateral meetings take place tomorrow but the focus is squarely on Ms Gillard and revelations that it was her staff member Tony Hodges who triggered the violent protest.
Deputy Prime Minister Bill English put the focus back on the talks though, and is the only minister so far apart from the Prime Minister who has met with his counterpart. He says that Australians are starting to take more notice of their cousins across the ditch.
"We've done some things that they've found pretty difficult like a big tax change we've lowered our tax rates to be lower that Australian tax rates and we're also further down the track with public sector change," says Mr English, the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister.
The Ministers really get down to business tomorrow with bilateral meetings and a joint cabinet sitting.
While the meetings are mainly a talk fest there will be an announcement from the two Defence Ministers on how the forces will be working together more closely in the near future.
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