Norman Russel: Overseas Investment (Restriction on Foreign Ownership of Land) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Norman Russel: Overseas Investment (Restriction on Foreign Ownership of Land) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 15 August 2012. Volume:682;Page:4430. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Dr RUSSEL NORMAN (Co-Leader—Green) 
: 
 I rise to speak on the Overseas Investment (Restriction on Foreign Ownership of Land) Amendment Bill. This is essentially a bill that makes sure that New Zealand farmland stays in New Zealand ownership. That is the nub of the bill. Fundamentally what drives this issue—and it is not just an issue for New Zealand; it is a global issue—is that on a finite planet food-producing land is becoming more and more valuable. That is the fundamental reality that sits behind this bill and the global debate about the global land-grab. So whether you read the  
New Scientist 
 where there has been a lot of debate around the global land-grab or whether you read Oxfam reports all over the world there is a debate about what to do about the fact that large sovereign States—particularly some of the Gulf States but elsewhere as well—as well as large corporations are buying up large tracts of land. The reason they are buying up large tracts of land is around food security fundamentally. South Korea is very concerned about food security as are China and other food-importing countries and the way they are trying to address that is by trying to buy up food-producing land. 
The figures on this are hard to come by because it is not very well regulated but possibly 2 million square kilometres of land has been bought up in the global land-grab in the last decade. That is the equivalent of Spain France Britain Italy and Germany combined. It is a very very large area. This global phenomenon of food-producing land becoming more valuable is being driven by a few things. The first of course is the growing population. The second is the growth of the middle class within those populations who obviously are looking for more and more protein-rich foods such as the dairy from New Zealand. It is also being driven by climate change. We are seeing real problems around food-producing land with uncertain and unstable weather which has meant that there have been significant crop failures in various places. All of that has put enormous pressure on food prices. We have seen a big spike in food prices over the last few years and that of course is being reflected in land prices. New Zealand is in the fortunate position of having access to quite a lot of food-producing land with access to water. That land over time is becoming increasingly valuable and they are not making any more of it. 
So we need to have a debate about how we respond to those global pressures. One option which is the Government option is to have a free-for-all. If people want to buy land then it will rubber-stamp the applications that come before it as we have seen from the Overseas Investment Office. That seems to me to be a particularly stupid approach and does not take account of what is happening internationally. I was hoping tonight that we would hear some reasons from the Government but all we heard from Jonathan Coleman and Mr Banks who are going to form—National and ACT together and Peter Dunne—the majority that will probably defeat this bill was an attack on me for being a migrant. I think it is extraordinary that the Government members got up in this House and accused the Green Party of xenophobia and then attacked me personally for being a migrant in New Zealand. I would say to every migrant in New Zealand: “Do not listen to Jonathan Coleman. Do not listen to John Banks. You are welcome in this country.” Every migrant who comes here has a right to be in this country every migrant in New Zealand has a right to buy land and we in the Green Party believe it is important that migrants and all other New Zealanders are able to afford to buy land. 
If land in New Zealand becomes part of a global market—an unregulated global market—the price of land will be driven up so that family farmers will be driven out of business. It will not be possible—it is not possible—for ordinary family farmers to compete with the likes of Shanghai Pengxin and other very large players which are backed by sovereign States that are buying up land. There is no way to compete with the kind of money that they have available to buy land. So whether you are New Zealand - born and bred a citizen here or whether like me you have come here as a migrant—and I am proud to say I am a migrant and I say to John Banks and Jonathan Coleman that you might attack migrants but we are not going to listen to you—this bill is about making sure that everybody who makes New Zealand their home can afford to buy land here. Because if we have open slather from all of the international forces we will drive up the price of land out of the reach of ordinary residents and citizens in this country. That is fundamentally what this bill is all about—dealing with the international pressures to make sure that family farmers have a future in this country and to make sure that ordinary citizens and residents can afford to buy land in New Zealand. That means keeping New Zealand farmland in particular for New Zealand citizens and residents and New Zealand - owned companies. Otherwise that land over time will become more and more expensive.