Oliver Hartwich: A Groundhog Day of Trans-Tasman relations

Meetings of the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF) are a regular fixture in the calendars of Australian and New Zealand business leaders and politicians. But their content has also become regular – which is to say, repetitive.

As a frequent attendee over the past decade, this week’s gathering in Wellington had a certain Groundhog Day feel to me.

Oliver Hartwich: No competition? Time to level up trans-tasman business relations

Let’s imagine a computer game, shall we? It is called ‘Master Lobbyist’, and your job is to play the governments of two countries off against each other.

You tell each of them that, unless they cut taxes for the industry you work for, your industry will move to the other country. Predictably, both governments fall into the trap and outbid each other in tax relief.

The result: your industry must now pay hardly any taxes at all, and you have truly earned your handsome consultancy fees.

Sounds like a stupid game, right? Well, it is exactly what has just played out between Australia and New Zealand. And the industry in question is the computer gaming sector.