NZ ready to welcome Australian small businesses amid CGT backlash, Finance Minister says

Entrepreneurial Australians have been urged to set up shop in New Zealand by the nation’s finance minister amid domestic backlash from the small business sector over Labor’s reforms to the capital gains tax.

New Zealand does not have CGT and has a “very simple tax system”, the country’s National Party deputy leader Nicola Willis told Sky News on Thursday.

“We keep it simple, we allow you accelerated depreciation and deductibility on your capital investments. And you’ve got a government that is very pro growth, anti-red tape,” she said.

“We’re on a reforming mission to make this one of the best places in the world to do business.”

Addressing Australians, she later added: “Where the bloody hell are you? Come over.”

The line is a nod to a famous 2006 Tourism Australia advertising campaign launched under former prime minister Scott Morrison’s leadership when he was managing director of the organisation.

Ms Willis told local reporters last week that Australians were “welcome to come and invest in New Zealand”.

Keating defends CGT reform

Earlier, former Labor prime minister Paul Keating took aim at wealthy investors who opposed the CGT overhaul as Labor ramped up its defence for scrapping the Howard-era tax break.