The development of a common Earthquake Loading Standard for Australia and New Zealand which has the potential for most countries in SE Asia is discussed in this paper. An historical perspective of earthquake loading standards in the two countries is introduced for background. In addition, two internationally recognised standards, Uniform Building Code (UBC) and Eurocode 8, covering earthquake loadings for areas of both low and high seismicity are presented. A seismic zoning scheme similar to the UBC approach is tentatively suggested for describing the seismic hazard of Australia and New Zealand. It is suggested that the requirements for design and detailing could vary from nominal tying together to capacity design procedures for the lowest and highest seismic zones respectively.