Brownlee GerryHon GERRY BROWNLEE (National—Ilam): Well that's interesting that the Minister David Parker should just inform the committee that forestry is included in the tests because when you read the bill you see that there are some specific exclusions for people who invest in forestry. It suddenly strikes me that given 5 hectares is the threshold all those people in Queenstown and other places where they've got these expensive homes—the few hundred throughout the country—they'll be able to get their price back if they simply plant the near area in trees. The test will simply be that while there's a residence there the residence can be there to support the tree operation.Everyone knows that the Greens have got a tree-hugging programme that's been going on for years; so of course you've got to be close to your trees. Everyone knows that they require a whole lot of husbandry a whole lot of pruning and various other things. So there is one of the biggest loopholes that could possibly be seen inside the bill and I'd like the Minister to tell us whether that's correct or not. If someone spends an enormous fortune buying a multi-hundred hectare property with a magnificent home on it in the Queenstown district but they're only doing it as a residence to support a forestry operation will that meet the test? According to the bill in front of us going through those criteria they would meet the test—pretty simple. The other thing that I found a little bit fascinating is that it seems it's possible for foreigners to come to New Zealand make a commitment to live here and become tax residents. First question: can people have dual residency? We know the answer to that is yes. Can they have dual tax status? We know the answer to that is yes. If they're prepared to stay here for 186 days in each year and they want to invest in residential property then they can become foreign landlords in our country to New Zealanders. So this bill for all that it makes a claim to assist New Zealanders with the opportunity to buy property simply creates specific opportunities for those with a lot of capital to come in here and continue doing what they've always done. Kiritapu Allan: Different from the houses that are—Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: So while the member over there who's been in the House for 5 minutes and doesn't have a lot of experience of knowing what tricky Ministers do with bills might want to mount a case in saying No you've read it wrong." Madam Chair as you know eventually all of these bills if they become Acts—and it appears that we're under the jackboot to get it into an Act pretty quick—are interpreted by the court. CHAIRPERSON (Hon Anne Tolley): Don't bring me into it.Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: No no I'm not bringing the Chair in; I'm simply pointing to the Chair's sensibilities around these matters and know full well that the Chair would understand there's a degree of pressure going on here that we haven't seen in the House for a period of time.The question is: how will a court interpret an application or a case that comes from perhaps a rejected application or otherwise? They'll go to the legislation and they'll start making the same conclusions that any reasonable person who reads it will make. I would like to hear from the Hon David Parker to tell us how it is that conditions for consent relating to sensitive land that will be used for forestry activities are going to exclude the sort of scheme that I have spoken of so far. How is it going to stop people who have large acreage—perhaps productive acreage; perhaps vineyards; perhaps beef farms or sheep farms; any amount of horticulture you might like to suggest—simply ripping it all out planting it in trees putting it on the market and making it available to any foreigner who's prepared to pay the price? Achieving what? Lost production lost opportunity probably lost jobs for New Zealanders and certainly none of what is claimed in this bill.As we've said—I've said it before and I was saying it when I got cut off last time—there's still no explanation from the Government as to why if this bill is so good and the signalling of it has been so good the price of the yet-to-be-built KiwiBuild homes has gone up so astronomically from $450000 to $680000."