Australia-NZ tax banter leads to rugby league quip
A proposal for Australians to move to New Zealand and avoid Labour’s tax change has been laughed off as “cheeky” by the countries’ respective leaders.
New Zealand finance minister Nicola Willis said in May Australians should invest and cross the ditch to avoid Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s controversial capital gains tax.
Mr Albanese, who is in Noosa to discuss trade, defense and foreign affairs with his Kiwi counterpart Christopher Luxon, was asked about the immigration call.
In response, Mr Albanese mentioned a NSW rugby league player playing for the New Zealand Warriors, known in the NRL as “Wahs”.
At a news conference with Mr. Luxon on Saturday, he asked, “What’s next? Are the Wahs signing another Jackson Ford?” he said.
“We have a few Kiwis in Australia too – 638,000 of them.
“One in eight New Zealanders live here. Why? Because it’s a good place to live. Just as Australians will continue to enjoy living in New Zealand.
“There can be a little bit of arrogance in the relationship from time to time. Let’s keep it that way.”
Mr Luxon played with a similar baton but said it was important that the two countries not comment on each other’s economic policies.
Mr Luxon’s coalition government is campaigning against New Zealand Labor’s capital gains tax plans.
He said Ms Willis’s comments were in the context of this discussion.
“It is no secret that in the New Zealand domestic context there has been a long-running debate going back over 10 years about the merits of introducing CGT (capital gains tax),” he said.
“We think this is not appropriate for New Zealand and we feel quite strongly about that.
“We are in a recovery phase and we think the CGT that will now be introduced to New Zealand will be devastating to our economy.”
Labour’s tax reforms, which include a tax of at least 30 per cent on capital gains and a $250 a year tax offset for workers, were passed by the House of Representatives on Thursday.
However, the future of the legislation is uncertain, with the Greens yet to indicate whether they will support the measures in the upper house.
“I’m very comfortable with jokes from people abroad,” Mr Albanese said.
“I doubt anyone took this more seriously than I did. That’s how I handled the comments. That’s the nature of the banter that ensued.”
