A high-level security dialogue between Japan and Australia scheduled for later this month in Tokyo has been postponed until early next year, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Tuesday, citing the ill health of Defense Minister Marise Payne.

"We will need to defer the meeting until early in the new year," Bishop told reporters in Canberra regarding the annual "two-plus-two" foreign and defense ministers meeting, which has not been held since November 2015.

"The Japanese understand that because of Minister Payne's recent illness, she's been advised not to travel," she said.