After Kiwi leader Christopher Luxon said introducing a tax on capital gains would be disastrous for New Zealand's economy, Australia's employment minister Amanda Rishworth denied it was a dig at the Albanese government's tax shake-up.
"I don't think you can compare apples with oranges when we're talking about different tax systems and different countries," she told Sky News on Sunday.
"I would suggest that neither leader would seek to get involved in domestic politics.
"I wouldn't suggest it was a shot across the bow. I would suggest that both leaders are operating in a completely different tax system in their country."
Mr Luxon, in Noosa for an annual two-day meeting with Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, was asked about NZ Finance Minister Nicola Willis's pitch for Australian entrepreneurs to move across the ditch to escape the contentious capital gains tax change.
In response, Mr Albanese referenced a NSW rugby league player who plays for the New Zealand Warriors, affectionately known as "the Wahs", in the NRL.
"What next? The Wahs signing another Jackson Ford?" he joked at a press conference with Mr Luxon on Saturday.
"We have a few Kiwis in Australia too - 638,000 of them.
"One in eight New Zealanders live here. Why? Because it's a good place to live. Just like Australians will continue to enjoy living in New Zealand.
"Occasionally there's a bit of cheekiness to the relationship. Long may that continue."
Mr Luxon said it was important the two countries didn't comment on each other's economic policies.
Hit coalition government is campaigning against NZ Labour's plans for a capital gains tax and Ms Willis's comments were in the context of that debate, he said.
"It's no secret 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 (capital gains tax) or not," he said.
"We don't think that's appropriate for New Zealand and we feel pretty strongly about it.
"We've got a recovery under way and we think a CGT being introduced to New Zealand now ... would be a wrecking ball through our economy."
Labor's tax reforms, which removed the existing 50 per cent capital gains discount and replaced it with an inflation indexation model, passed the House of Representatives on Thursday.
The bill would also eliminate negative gearing for established properties and introduce a minimum 30 per cent tax on capital gains, which economists have said could contribute to home prices falling by up to 10 per cent.
But the laws face an uncertain future, with the Greens yet to indicate if they will back the measures in the upper house.
Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson delighted in Mr Luxon's comments.
"In an age of artificial intelligence, I think that's going to be more important now than ever to back the entrepreneurial energy of the Australian people," he told Sky News.
"Labor wants to take a wrecking ball to the entrepreneurial energy and the growth of this country."
Quizzed on comments he'd made in 2020 arguing that the capital gains tax discount was too high and entrenched intergenerational inequity, Mr Wilson said his thoughts had not changed and that the real problem was that income tax was too high.
"We have a capital gains tax discount because we have to deal with inflation and its impact on the value of assets, so there's not a problem fundamentally with having a 50 per cent discount," he said.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the tax changes would better compensate asset holders for inflation than the existing system.
"Tim Wilson appears to have inadvertently endorsed our reforms to the capital gains tax discount, which is not surprising given his record of advocating for these kinds of changes," Dr Chalmers said.
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