Australia needs to stop thinking of New Zealand as the "cousin at the party who's got the short trousers" and treat their neighbour more seriously, a leading historian says.
Professor Philippa Mein Smith, a New Zealand expert in trans-Tasman relations, has warned that while the countries have strong business and government ties, the cultural connections "need some work".
"It's time to stop trotting out the sheep jokes and the endless ribbing on the sports field and make our relationship more sophisticated," said Prof Mein Smith, who heads a specialist unit at the University of Canterbury that investigates how the two nations interact.
She said a key part of the problem was that Australia was forever looking to America.
"My major objective, and I know it will be hard, is to try to get Australia to look our way more often, and think of us as more than the cousin at the party with the short trousers, as (TV personality) Rove McManus once said."
In a new book, Remaking the Tasman World, Prof Mein Smith and colleagues write that Australian and New Zealanders have shared the same space Down Under for more than 200 years and have so much in common.
"But we both seem so determined to be defined by our differences instead of focusing on what we have together," she said.
Champion race horse Phar Lap was the ultimate symbol of the shared history, as his preserved body parts are scattered through museums on both sides of the Tasman.
"He's a hero horse for all of us so I think it's about time we got over who owns him and just accept we all do, but still the fight goes on."
New Zealand also needed to do its bit to help improve cultural relations by being less "angsty" about Australia, the academic said.
"There's a bit of small-country syndrome that's come after years of battling with being seen as insignificant, like we don't rate.
"It's not helped by the fact that Australia seems intent on looking north rather than over here."
The book examines what it calls "the cartoon history of Tasman relations" and envisions a fresh start for the trans-Tasman community in the 21st century.
