O'Connor Damien: Land Transfer Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeO'Connor Damien: Land Transfer Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 15 March 2016. Volume:712;Page:9687. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR (Labour—West Coast - Tasman): “A minor technical amendment bill”—yes well we have heard that in this House so often. Those of us who have been around for a wee while tend to look a little suspiciously at such statements. I listened to Minister Upston and I had to agree with some of her statements although not all. Land “underpins” everything she said. Now that is partly true I guess—if you are lucky enough to have some land. It “attracts overseas investment”—well that is true as well.This is more than just a minor technical amendment to a piece of legislation. It comes off the back of a recommendation made in 2010 by the Law Commission an independent body that comes to the House with recommendations—a bit like the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment although the Government seems to ignore those recommendations.I just want to go back as a member of a committee that had oversight of Landonline the technical electronic system that we have. It cost us a fortune to be fair. There was a huge cost blowout and now we are making some minor technical amendments to ensure that it operates properly. We in Opposition have to acknowledge that as time moves on technology certainly has. Some of these changes will be required to ensure that we can retain the property rights—not to the extent that the ACT Party might proclaim; we are not that ridiculous. We are not that neanderthal in our thinking. There are new nuances around ownershipthat are referred to in this bill such as lessees’ leases that I am not going to get into.I come back to the issue raised by my colleagues as to why this bill is going through now. There are some quite technical issues here and things that are being changed that will have far-reaching implications—some of which we will not raise or realise in this House today. But those people who are out around the worldwho might be to quote the Minister “attracted to New Zealand for overseas investment” will be looking very carefully at this.Mark Mitchell: Yes good.Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR: The member over there who nods his head is probably quite happy to protect the rights of those people who are going to want to come and invest in New Zealand. I have a greater concern and that is for New Zealanders who currently have the land or New Zealand families who want to keep and retain the land.The fact is that we are under pressure. In 1985 when I was a sharemilker I remember going to a rally against the then Labour Government and being told that farmers should farm for productive returns and not for capital gains. The unfortunate thing is fuelled and encouraged by the banks by the Government and by DairyNZ. Farmers have ploughed huge amounts of capital into land arguably to the point where land values are unsustainable. Just as leaders of the dairy industry say that production levels around the world are actually unsustainable—that is about as true as saying that New Zealand land values are unsustainable. The question for Kiwis and for the New Zealand Government is which one should give in first. Which one is going to cave in first? That is will it be the foreign production of milk all around the world which is swamping us at the moment or will it be the unrealistic land values of farmers up and down this country?My colleague David Cunliffe pointed out the truth in his speech. The banks have walked away with billions of dollars of profit—billions of dollars of profit. What we have now is a whole lot of—thousands literally; not the 10 percent that John Key wants to refer to. It is actually probably closer to 50 percent of farmers who are under real financial pressure now. The issue of land values is crucial to their future good or bad. The reality is that unless the banks and the Government leave the door open to that foreign investment we are likely to see a downward adjustment of up to 40 percent of land values in this country. That is a frightening scenario for too many farmers up and down this country. I suggest that not as part of a conspiracy but just as part of the normal modus operandi for the National-Tory Government the Government wants to tidy up these technical details. That is why this bill is in the House now: to ensure that the foreign investors—and there are millions of them around the world who would love to come and invest in this country. The member over there is shaking his head. He should get his head out of the sand.Why would you come and invest in New Zealand? There are a couple of reasons. Firstly if you want to put your money in the European Central Bank you will have a negative interest rate of 0.4 percent. That is you will be paying them to look after your money. If you want to come and invest in New Zealand you can buy land enjoy capital gain without any taxation and most likely see further upward movement of land values—if the door is left open to further speculation from offshore investors.The Government is caught in a bind here between its constituencies as was said before—between the bankers who have got very high exposure to our land values around this country and want to secure that as best they can and the farmers who are indebted as well.There will be a downward adjustment of 40 percent which will mean potentially massive sales which will mean that this piece of legislation is absolutely crucial to protecting the property rights of those selling or purchasing and of those who might be leasing or subleasing.I am assuming that the minor technical amendments that we are talking about here actually do protect the property rights of people coming or going but my concern is for those farmers who might be going—or in future those farmers or wannabe farmers who will not be able to acquire the land.We are facing a major issue. The timing of this legislation is just a little too cute for my liking. Although I have not been and will not be on the select committee I will be following this closely because if we do not get this right and if the National Government and the banks are quite prepared to see the massive sell-out of land in this country to foreigners we will be as John Key said and preached tenants in our land—under his Government endorsed by his Government.Hon Louise Upston: After you sold so much.Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR: That Minister is quite happy because she has acknowledged in her speech the robust and secure land tenure in this country which goes back to something that we took from the Australians—you have got to be suspicious of that in the first place—back in the 1800s. We have refined it and this bill will further refine it. But let us not get distracted by minor technical amendments.When the underlying agenda of the Government is to satisfy its mates offshore—it wants to be seen as open and welcoming to foreign investment. The banks because they want to save any potential loss from a downward valuation of farmland around this country—the poor farmers who are stuck in the middle who have been encouraged to go out and invest huge amounts in land values on the basis and the false promise of high dairy payouts are caught out. We need to support them. We need to support them not with money but with a fair deal and a fair process. I am not convinced that this piece of legislation does anything to protect the fair process. We are told it will. I am suspicious that it might be more about protecting the property rights of those who might come in from offshore.I am in this House as is the Labour Party for one reason and one reason only. That is first and foremost to look after New Zealanders—people who want to come to this country commit to this country and generate wealth. I am not here to look after overseas foreign speculators who might want to come in and off the backs of poor farmers invest in property that they get free capital gains off. If this piece of legislation supports and enhances and helps them then we are not for it. But if it does support the property rights in the place of New Zealand’s farmers—