Prebble Richard: Overseas Investment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
Prebble Richard: Overseas Investment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:626;Page:21584] 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE (ACT) 
: 
 I rise to speak to clause 1 of the Overseas Investment Bill on behalf of the ACT party and I think that the bill is incorrectly named. It should be called the “Attack on Private Property Rights Bill” because one of the fundamental rights one has when one owns property is to be able to sell it but here the Government is claiming the right to dictate to citizens about who they can sell it to. 
 They have not actually given any reasons. Most of the speeches have been incoherent like Mr Donald’s speech in which he was talking about the good citizens of New Zealand versus the outlaws. What an amazing statement! He is prepared to claim that anyone who is not a New Zealander is an outlaw. If statements like that were being made overseas he would immediately condemn that as xenophobic but then with no shame at all he is prepared to make xenophobic statements himself and also demonstrate a complete lack of history. This country was actually built with overseas investment. This country was built by people who came and invested in this nation and we still need their capital and expertise today. 
I listened also with some confusion to Mr John Key’s speech because while he was attacking the Government in the Committee stage it appeared to me that the two old parties were voting together for this piece of socialist— 
Hon Member 
: The great coalition! 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: Maybe I misunderstood or maybe Mr Key did not know how his party was voting but it appeared to me that the two old parties were voting together for this legislation which is clearly a nonsense. Intellectually it does not stand up. It is correct as Mr Donald said that there are some clauses in the bill that will in fact result in some liberalisation. But there are other measures for which there is no intellectual or moral basis. If a person selling his or her land is required to provide a walkway for citizens and if that is desirable why are only foreigners required to provide that walkway and not people born in New Zealand? That is a complete nonsense. 
Dail Jones 
: That is the next step. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: Maybe it is the next step. From the ACT party’s point of view if the community wants to own a piece of land then the community should pay for it. To just take it is communism. That is socialism. I am amazed—well actually I am not amazed. I would like to think that one should be amazed that the National Party is voting for such a measure but I am not because the National Party members were going around the country today saying they were opposed to attempts to take farmers’ land and then we have Nick Smith’s bill—and Nick Smith should actually be in the Alliance—which is a socialist measure. That was being put forward. 
The party that has been—and I think it would be fair enough to say this in the House—consistently in favour of private property rights does not believe in this type of intervention and says that it is morally wrong that this Parliament has no moral right to be placing restrictions on citizens’ private property rights— 
Gordon Copeland 
: That’s United Future 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: Well I have not actually noticed United Future being consistent on that matter. I think in fact the only party that has been consistent on that question has been the ACT party. I have looked at the minority reports and I do not see a minority report from United Future making a strong stand on behalf of private property rights. Indeed I have not been hearing such speeches on behalf of them. I hear Mr Peter Dunne making speeches on behalf of some sort of outdoor group that claims to have the right to trample over people’s private property rights. Am I right there Mr Copeland? 
Gordon Copeland 
: Fourth paragraph page 11. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: Fourth paragraph page 11. 
Rod Donald 
: No heading. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: Fourth paragraph no heading. What does it say Mr Copeland? 
Gordon Copeland 
: I have read it out to the House. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: Oh the member has read it out to the House. Does the member want me to read it again? All I can say is that it is so pathetic I cannot even find it. What I am interested to know is and given all these speeches how is this bill going through? The National Party is opposed to it. The Greens are opposed to it. The United Party— 
Brian Connell 
: National is for it. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: I heard Mr Key say he was opposed to it. Now if he is going to vote the way that he says he believes how can this bill be passing? There must be some extraordinary mathematics going on.