Prime Minister Tony Abbott has praised his New Zealand counterpart for sharing responsibility in the
global fight against Islamic State extremists.
NZ Prime Minister John Key's commitment to send 143 Kiwi troops on a joint training mission with Australia in Iraq has copped political flak in his country.
Australia is yet to announce its part of the joint commitment, with Mr Abbott wanting to take it to Tuesday's party room meeting before formally making details public.
He and Mr Key discussed plans for the 400-member training team at length during bilateral talks in Auckland on Saturday.
A 200-member Australian special forces team is now operating inside Iraq, advising and assisting Iraqi special forces in their fight against Islamic State.
Australian forces are also involved in US-led air strikes.
"It will be good to see Australia and New Zealand standing shoulder to shoulder together in defence of our interests and our values," Mr Abbott told reporters at Government House in Auckland.
"Good on John Key for being prepared to shoulder a reasonable share of responsibility for this particular battle."
As peaceful nations, he said, they were instinctively reluctant to join conflicts but this particular one was reaching out across the globe.
Mr Key says New Zealand forces will only be part of the mission for two years.
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However, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says putting a strict time frame on it will just play into the hands of terrorist groups.
"They will either wait it out or increase their activities, so I don't intend to give a terrorist organisation the comfort of knowing how long the coalition of countries will seek to defeat it," she told New Zealand's TV3 on Saturday.
Mr Abbott has also discussed the likely expansion of Australia's mission with Iraqi prime minister Haider Al-Abadi.
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