the negotiators

True - this was organized last year under the O administration. You get 1200 or so muslims and we get a similar number of non-muslims. As bad deals go - we did OK.

2. Turnbull is more interested in deepening his relationship with Donald Trump, a dependable ally, than with the fickle Kiwi. NZ has a reputation for "pushing the limits" in being independent of its allies;
and at any rate, it isn't much of a player on the world stage:

Also true. Out relationship with NZ and its 3.5 million population is probably similar to yours with Canada. Except that thanks to a large part of the white population being descended from convicts - we're a bit more mongrel - with less trust of authority than the we're more mongrel thn the landed gentry that colonized NZ.. Having said that - New Zealand was part of and administered by New South Wales in the 19th century. I think there's a clause in our constitution which allows for NZ to return to the fold. But it will never happen.
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/taming-the-frontier/british-intervention

http://www.diskiller.net/nzstatehood/

"...how you were taking the leaked, "animated" phone call between Trump and Turnbull. I told him the story was way overblown; and you actually liked Donald Trump...

It made the news here - most of the focus was on how leaks like that were allowed to happen in the first place, on Trump's apparently knowing he was getting a bad deal and whether or not it would be rescinded. And , amusingly, Trump referring to Turnbull as Mr, Trumbull. Turnbull is a billionaire in his own right - a former merchant banker and I think a corporate lawyer - so those two would have tried to out-negotiate each other.