Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

New Zealand and Australian police are to launch a joint blitz on drunken violence and anti-social behaviour.

Acting deputy commissioner Michael Player represented New Zealand at the announcement of Operation Unite in Perth on Thursday.

The police services say the two countries share a culture of public binge drinking, and they are sick of dealing with the after-effects.

So far there are few details of exactly what New Zealand police will do during Operation Unite on the weekend of 11-12 December, in the lead up to the holiday season.

But commissioners at the Perth meeting said there will be an increased police presence around nightlife hotspots, and a drink driving crackdown, in both countries.

New Zealand Commissioner Howard Broad says police in both countries have had enough of dealing with the dangerous culture of binge drinking in public places.

The Commissioner says police acknowledge they cannot arrest their way out of the problem but there is a need for stronger policing.

New South Wales police commissioner Andrew Scipione says the crackdown is the biggest combined police operation in Australasian history.

In a column in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Scipione says police will set up drink-drive checkpoints and clamp down on pubs that don't comply with their licences.