Labor minister dismisses New Zealand Prime Minister swipe over CGT

Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth has dismissed criticism of Australia’s capital gains tax after New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon spectacularly claimed it was “a wrecking ball tax” he would never introduce.

The New Zealand National Party leader was in Noosa on Saturday for an annual meeting with Anthony Albanese.

Asked about the CGT, Mr Luxon said “within the New Zealand domestic context, there’s been a long-running debate now for over 10 years about the merits of introducing a CGT or not.

“We’ve got a recovery underway and we just think of CGT being introduced to New Zealand now would be a wrecking ball for our economy.”

The New Zealand Prime Minister stopped short of commenting about Australia’s own changes to CGT taxes – the discount for which Labor has committed to slashing – stating there were differences between the economies of the two countries.

That sentiment was echoed by Ms Rishworth on Sunday when she was grilled over Mr Luxon’s comments.

“We’ve got two different countries with two different tax systems,” she told Sky News.

“Let’s be really clear, New Zealand has a different tax system to our tax system.

“Capital gains tax has existed in our country, as we’ve been discussing, for a very long time. “There’s been changes, along the way, and we are looking at capital gains and changing that to rebalance it and make it fairer.

“But, just to be really clear, I don’t think you can compare apples with oranges when we’re talking about different tax systems and different countries.”

Ms Rishworth said the meeting between the two prime ministers was “warm” and demonstrated the good relationship with New Zealand, “our very close neighbour”.

“But, I wouldn’t suggest it was a shot across the bow,” she said.

“I would suggest that both leaders are operating in a completely different tax system in their country.”

Speaking later, shadow treasurer Tim Wilson said Mr Luxon was “coming here, basically ... to raid the prosperity of the future of Australia”.

“And Anthony Albanese has handed it on a platter,” he said.

The Albanese government has faced fierce pushback from the Coalition over its changes to the capital gains tax and negative gearing incentives.

The Coalition has vowed to fight the measures in the Senate, where Labor will require support to pass the legislation, and to repeal them if they are elected in 2028.