Australian And New Zealand Discuss Trans-Tasman Single Market

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

21 February 2006

New Zealand's Finance Minister Michael Cullen is in Australia this week, where he will discuss the possibility of a trans-Tasman single market for investments with Australian Treasurer, Peter Costello.

Dr Cullen told National Radio in an interview yesterday that it was "almost certain" that both countries would move to a position where investments by New Zealanders would be treated equally whether undertaken in Australia or New Zealand.

According to Dr Cullen, this would mean that the tax regime would be "fully consistent with a single economic market for tax purposes".

"The bilateral is an important opportunity to discuss regional economic issues and to accelerate initiatives towards a single economic market," Dr Cullen explained in a statement.

"Work on the single economic market objective has been a key feature of recent bilaterals and I am hopeful of good progress on measures to better integrate the two economies," he added.

The Australian and New Zealand delegations, which will meet for official talks on Wednesday, will also discuss a number of other issues relevant to easing barriers to trans-Tasman business, including measures to enable co-operation between banking regulators; progress on aligning accounting standards; and the implementation of recommendations from the review of the Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition arrangement.

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