Logistics body expands across the Ditch

THE SUPPLY Chain and Logistics Association of Australia (SCLAA) is expanding across the Tasman, officially offering services in New Zealand from next month.

This development is to be marked with an afternoon function at The Hilton Auckland, Princes Wharf, on 11 September.

SCLAA chair and Sue Tomic said expanding into New Zealand made sense.

“As Australia’s largest Association for Supply Chain & Logistics professionals, we see it as a natural progression to expand our services to New Zealand and foster even stronger connections,” Ms Tomic said.

The SCLAA expansion is perhaps timely given the governments of Australia and New Zealand have expressed a desire to pursue closer trade ties.

“As neighbours, friends and family, the bonds between our countries, our economies, and our communities are unmatched,” said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

“I look forward to discussing how we can work together to build on our single economic market, modernise the rules-based trading system, deepen our alliance and back our Pacific partners.”

New Zealand is already one of Australia’s top trading partners. In 2024, two-way trade was valued at more than $32 billion, with significant movement of goods, services, and capital.

Trade between the two nations benefits from the Australia-New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement (ANZCERTA), described by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as “one of the broadest and most diverse in the world”.

According to DFAT, the CER Agreement “is one of the most comprehensive bilateral free trade agreements in existence”.

“It covers substantially all trans-Tasman trade in goods, including agricultural products, and was the first to include free trade in services,” DFAT states.

Contact SCLAA for more information about the launch or its work in New Zealand.