Inquiry on transtasman links due to report

By KEVIN TAYLOR

A long-awaited report into New Zealand's economic and trade relationship with Australia will be presented to Parliament within a fortnight.

The report, which comes as talk increases on harmonising transtasman corporate law and regulations, is the result of a two-year inquiry by the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee.

But committee chairman and Labour MP Graham Kelly has downplayed expectations over how wide-ranging it will be.

The committee started its inquiry in April 2000. Its aim was to look at the future of Closer Economic Relations (CER), currency union, matching tax, customs and business laws, government help for industry and freedom of transtasman travel.

It was also to have studied the "implications, advantages and disadvantages" of the two countries merging.

Kelly said the committee's report would be tabled in Parliament within two weeks. But he could not comment on its recommendations before then.

"Even our ministers don't know what's in it," he said.

The committee went to Australia last June as part of its inquiry, and also heard submissions from several groups.

But Kelly said the terms of reference for the inquiry did not pretend it would cover everything.

"We covered six or eight issues, I think, which we thought were the issues outstanding," he said.

"We are not saying this is the complete, absolute review. We just did not have the resources or time to do that.

"We have had to constrain ourselves to the imperatives."

Kelly said the committee had thought it was going to finish the inquiry before the end of last year, but the September 11 terrorist attacks and the subsequent terrorism bill had caused the delay.

Business NZ chief executive Simon Carlaw said he had no idea what the report might contain.

The federation's submission had argued for a broader and deeper CER relationship, and study of issues such as the handling of imputation credits and currency union.

However, he said, little progress had been made since then and the issues were no closer to being taken seriously by politicians.