Parker DavidHon DAVID PARKER (Attorney-General): If ever you needed an illustration of the irrelevance of Opposition that was it—that was it. That little contribution did nothing to improve New Zealand it did nothing to enlighten New Zealand and it didn't change the fact that this new Government is getting on and governing in the interests of New Zealand.I want to cover an announcement that the Government made today which is one of the many instances where there is universal agreement across the three parties that make up the Government. New Zealand First campaigned on this the Labour Party campaigned on this and the Green Party campaigned on this: that is making real the fact that New Zealand land assets should first and foremost be for New Zealanders.While we've had the former Prime Minister now Leader of the Opposition talking about secret documents actually what the media is writing up in great detail—and very well reported I might say—is what we're doing in respect of rural land today. They're not interested just in the fact that we are tightening the criteria so that first and foremost New Zealand land assets will be for New Zealanders; they're interested in the theory as to why we are doing it.They're not the only ones that are interested. Increasingly this is being reported in overseas news outlets which are looking to how New Zealand is trying to maintain our liberal outward-looking focus as a nation whilst dealing with the insecurities of New Zealanders born of the fact that the middle classes are feeling that they're being squeezed out by the influences of multinationals and wealthy one-percenters from overseas.In the Government we know that it's important to maintain what are very liberal settings in New Zealand which make for a peaceful and prosperous society outward-looking in our focus that looks to the rest of the world in our trading relationships so that we can sell goods and services to the rest of the world to pay for our imports. But we also know that there is an unprecedented rate of change in the world with the accumulation of wealth as a consequence of the excesses of global capitalism pushing all of that wealth or just about all of the additional wealth being created in the world to be captured by the top one percent.What was the response of the last National Government in response to the concerns of New Zealanders? They largely ignored them and in fact they pulled the wool over their eyes. There was a lot of concern around the Crafar farms sale to overseas buyers. The Government said they were going to tighten up on land sales and then they sent a letter that duped New Zealanders by saying Look we'll only look seriously at applications to buy farms ten times the size of an average farm." The average size of a dairy farm is 200 hectares. What would the old Government do? They'd look carefully at farms over 2000 hectares. Virtually no dairy farm is of that size. In respect of sheep and beef the average is about 700 hectares. What did they look at when they were getting over 7000 hectares? The other ones—it would be going a little bit too far to say they were simply waved through but that was just about the truth of it.We think that in order to protect these beneficial settings that we have in New Zealand we have to protect New Zealanders from being outbid by one-percenters from overseas. We've got support from lots of farmers in this regard. The National Party lost contact with the heart and soul individual farming families they used to represent. Now they represent the multinational corporate end of town. We're standing up for the New Zealand farmers who say they shouldn't be outbid and their kids and their neighbours shouldn't be outbid by one-percenters from overseas. We want sharemilkers to graduate to become farm owners rather than being for ever the employee of someone from overseas.In the Labour Party supported by New Zealand First and the Greens we see that these issues are central to what New Zealanders see of themselves. If you're going to stay here and pay taxes and put your shoulder to the wheel of the New Zealand economy you should have the privilege of owning our land assets. That's true of the most expensive piece of land and the cheapest piece of land. To do otherwise is frustrating the ambitions of New Zealanders who think this is intrinsic to their rights as a New Zealander. The Labour Party with support from New Zealand First and the Greens is standing up for New Zealanders and is doing it in a way that is preserving our international trading relationships."