We're being told to follow Australia's lead when dealing with big multi-nationals like Google, Facebook and Apple which don't pay their fair share of tax.

Revenue Minister Judith Collins will reveal a policy to address the problem today.

Green Party co-leader James Shaw said for the most part, these companies are using differences between countries' tax laws to exploit loop holes to avoid paying tax anywhere.

He told Rachel Smalley this is a worldwide problem.

"It's clear that public pressure is building up, not just in New Zealand but overseas as well, and something's got to give. It just requires a high level of cooperation between countries."

Shaw said Australia has slapped an 120 percent tax on any company found exploiting the rules and side-stepping tax.

"And they've used part of the revenue that they've been getting from that to beef up the ability of their inland revenue department to perform investigations."

He said it seems to be paying dividends with revenue up and tax avoidance down in Australia.

LISTEN ABOVE AS GREEN CO-LEADER JAMES SHAW SPEAKS WITH RACHEL SMALLEY