Fletcher Building CEO Mark Adamson says no-one wants to live in Sydney due to the tax system

THE Auckland-based CEO of a $4.4 billion Australasian company says all his new recruits want to quit Sydney and head across the Tasman.

Mark Adamson; CEO of Fletcher Building Corporate Australia, at their offices in Chatswood, Sydney.

THE Auckland-based CEO of a $4.4 billion Australasian company says all his new recruits want to quit Sydney and head back over the Tasman.

British-born Fletcher Building chief executive Mark Adamson was especially critical of Australia’s tax system and also its infrastructure.

“New Zealand is a very simple tax regime. I take five minutes to fill in my tax return and I’m a fairly complex tax person. The taxes are low and they simply encourage entrepreneurs to swing their bat and try new things,” NZ Stuff reported.

“And (that) is not to say that we don’t have good public services.”

Mr Adamson, whose company owns the Laminex and Formica brands, is on a reported salary of $4.03 million. He condemned the overly complex tax system in Australia.

“New Zealand is a great model and the best system I’ve seen and I’ve worked all over the world,” he said..

“When we recruit, people spend five minutes looking at the tax regime and they all want to move to Auckland. No one wants to live in Sydney.”

He also said the political uncertainty was effecting his thinking over the proposals to increase infrastructure spending.

“How many prime ministers have we had in four years? Four? I’m not building my strategy in Australia on that infrastructure spend happening,” he said.

He added that he felt the residential building boom had reached its peak.

“The resi boom in Australia is a hell of a boom, I just don’t see it continuing. It is more likely to drop from 210,000 (new dwellings a year) to 150,000 in the next few years,” he added.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Wednesday said that infrastructure will be “absolutely critical” to Australia’s success in the 21st century.

Launching a 15-year blueprint for Australian infrastructure, Mr Turnbull said the government was committed to using infrastructure to take advantage of Asia’s growing middle class.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said the report was “visionary”, proposing an inland rail link between Melbourne and Brisbane.

“This is something that makes people excited about the future,” Mr Joyce said.

The Infrastructure Australia report suggested a user-pays approach to provide greater fairness in the way Australia pays for its roads.

It calls for the introduction of direct heavy vehicle charging within five years and direct user charging for all vehicles within 10 years while removing existing taxes and charges.

That would free up taxpayer dollars to invest in other priorities like social services, health and education.