Peters Winston: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers Questions to MembersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumePeters Winston: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members[Sitting date: 19 August 2015. Volume:707;Page:5934. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]6.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by all his statements?Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister): Yes.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Does he stand by his statement: “I actually think that New Zealand should show solidarity with other countries that have applied sanctions on Russia because of the actions it has undertaken. The reason that we do not have bilateral sanctions on Russia is to do with the fact that actually this Parliament will not give the Government the authority to do that because it is blocked by the Labour Party.”?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Yes I stand by that statement.Rt Hon Winston Peters: How can he possibly reconcile that statement with the Minister of Trade’s statement this morning on resuming trade with Russia as being “a step in the right direction”?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The member is confusing two different issues. The Minister of Trade continues to support the view actually that New Zealand should show solidarity even though we do not have bilateral sanctions on Russia in relation to the Ukraine issue. What he was talking about was the removal of unilateral restrictions that were put on by Russia that well and truly pre-date this issue and go back to 2011. Actually the Minister of Trade is quite right for welcoming that.Jami-Lee Ross: Does the Prime Minister stand by his statement that it is in the public interest for New Zealand to consider changing the New Zealand flag and has he received any reports of former Prime Ministers supporting such a change?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Yes I do stand by those statements and I have received advice that there are other Prime Ministers who have supported the view of changing the flag in the history of our country. They include Helen Clark and David Lange and last night I learnt that it goes all the way back to big old Norman Kirk wanting to change the flag. There are three Labour Prime Ministers who were enlightened. Maybe that is what it takes to become a Labour Prime—Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order!Rt Hon Winston Peters: Getting back to reality who has upset him most—Mr SPEAKER: Order! I apologise to the member. Because of the level of interjection I cannot hear the member. Would the member start his supplementary question again.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Who has upset him most: the Opposition for somehow not allowing him to impose sanctions on Russia; his Minister of Trade who is now advocating trading with Russia; or himself for unofficially joining sanctions against Russia and advising Fonterra to do so as well?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The member’s question is just fundamentally wrong.Rt Hon Winston Peters: When will he start taking foreign affairs and trade seriously and stop making policy decisions on the golf courses of Hawaii in an attempt to suck up to the Americans who have thus far torpedoed his dairy industry Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement negotiations?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Mr Speaker—Chris Hipkins: Get some guts.Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Oh OK. So the Labour Party’s position now is that we should be supporting and trading with Russia even though it has done the despicable things that we have seen take place in Crimea. That is a very interesting position for the Labour Party.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I did not ask him about the Labour Party or about any other party’s view in that supplementary question. I asked him—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member—[Interruption] Order! When the member talks about a supplementary question that includes words like what has happened “on a Hawaii golf course” and “sucking up to the Americans” it gives very wide licence to the Prime Minister to answer the question.Andrew Little: Does he regret his pledge that he would not let “New Zealanders become tenants in their own country”; if not why has he today refused to stand by that statement? Is it because he is ashamed of selling out New Zealand by rubber-stamping every overseas buyer’s application for the last 4 years?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: In answer to the first part of the question no.Andrew Little: If he is really concerned about our country being sold out from under us why has his Government approved every application by overseas buyers to buy land since 2011?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The member will be aware that since 2008 the Overseas Investment Office has introduced a pre-assessment rejection process and I would note that the net amount of rural land approved for sale to foreign buyers has halved since National came into office.Andrew Little: Is he now reneging on his 2008 promise that Landcorp will not have its assets privatised and before doing so “we’ll come back to the people of New Zealand with transparency and seek a mandate”? [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! Could the member please repeat the question.Andrew Little: Is he now reneging on his 2008 promise that Landcorp will not have its assets privatised and before doing so “we’ll come back to the people of New Zealand with transparency and seek a mandate”?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: No but Landcorp from time to time sells assets and it is free to do so.Andrew Little: Can he guarantee that any farms sold by Landcorp will not end up in foreign ownership or is he going to flog them off to overseas buyers too?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: No because Landcorp buys and sells farms all the time. It is part of its core business; it is what it does.Andrew Little: When will he finally admit that it is time to stop selling out New Zealand that we need proper rules that the Government actually enforces to prevent the sale of any more of our land unless there is significant proven benefit to New Zealand and that we need a transparent register of all foreign owners of farms and forests?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I just stand by the Government’s record which is that the net amount of rural land approved for sale to foreigners halved under a National Government compared with a Labour Government. I just ask the member why he does not go back to his normal form of policy development and pick out Chinese names from the phone book and give them a ring and pick on them.Andrew Little: Is it not the truth that he has taken no action to stop the sale of our productive land into overseas ownership and that his pledge to ensure that we will not become tenants in our own land is just more hollow words from a hollow man?Hon Steven Joyce: Angry Andrew.Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Well he is angry because he has had to wait a wee while to ask his question. But I stand by my record. We have sold half the amount of land that occurred under a Labour Government. We have actually done a pretty good job in that regard. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! Would the front bench to my right please stop interjecting.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Is it not a fact that the real reason he as Prime Minister is opposed to New Zealand First’s register of foreign land and homeownership in New Zealand is that it would show that New Zealanders under his watch are fast becoming tenants in their own country?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: No.