No. You need a valid Australian passport but you can travel to and live and work in New Zealand without applying for a visa. If you move to NZ, you will be considered a Permanent Resident (no need to apply) and after living there for 5 years, can apply for NZ citizenship if you wish to do so.

Yes. You do.

First, you must get a letter from a New Zealand sponsor. Not so easy given that the New Zealand government poses enormous penalties on tourists who run wild. The sponsor is held responsible for you, an Australian and somebody from a place with a lot of heavy drinking.

Second, you must go to a New Zealand consulate and go through a Kafkaesque procedure of approval and paperwork to get your visa. You will then pay the extortionate fee of $1750 AUD.

Third, you must then wait six weeks for your visa. There are reports of people getting them within four but given the sensitive history of the Great Genocide by the Australians in New Zealand, New Zealand has not forgotten. Even then, your visa will only be single entry.

Is going to such a nation of hate really worth all that?

If you are a citizen or permanent resident of Australia, you don't need a visa to visit New Zealand.

No, buddy, if you are travelling on an Australian Passport, your fine.

You need a passport but you don't need a visa.

not too many years ago you didn't even need a passport from Aus to NZ or NZ to Aus.