Kiwis have got it right: Hockey

Treasurer Joe Hockey has heaped praise on New Zealand's structural economic reforms, saying there are big lessons for Australia.

Mr Hockey, writing in the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday, said tough decisions had enabled the NZ dollar to reach near-parity with the Aussie, unemployment to fall, living standards to rise and put a budget surplus on the horizon.

In recent years NZ has increased the GST to 15 per cent along with lowering the top marginal rate of income tax and cutting company tax.