Sage EugenieHon EUGENIE SAGE (Minister for Land Information): E Te Māngai o Te Whare tēnā koe. Thank you Madam Speaker. In terms of the National Party and the Opposition that it has had previously—and the House spent over half an hour I think around the shortened select committee process—what some of the members didn't seem to realise there is that with the previous bill the Overseas Investment (Urgent Measures) Amendment Bill yes that is going through a shortened process but the fact that this bill the Overseas Investment Amendment Bill (No 3) is going through the full select committee process means that if there are any changes that are made in the urgent measures bill which are problematic then they can potentially be addressed through this bill.That was one of the reasons that the Green Party was happy to support urgency for the previous bill—and also because given the COVID crisis given the financial hardship and economic distress that some firms are under it is critical that the emergency measures and the requirement for any transactions that will seek to have a greater than 25 percent share being overseas owned be notified to Government go through that 10-day quick assessment process and if there are significant issues that relate to national interest then the Minister of Finance can consider that in a more detailed way.In terms of this bill the Overseas Investment Amendment Bill (No 2) that was introduced into the House in March is being withdrawn and this one is taking its place.The Hon Judith Collins talked about streamlining. This bill makes a real effort to streamline the process by which applications are considered. It does things like introducing a much better test for character. It deals with the whole issue of the way that that is assessed and makes it more efficient to do that. It also provides for a regulation-making power which enables the Government to introduce an emergency notification regime if needed at any time in the future if we need to respond to a future emergency.One of the key things though that is really important about this No. 3 bill is the fact—and Minister Parker outlined it as well—that at the moment the ministerial directive outlines the criteria which are to be taken into account when Government assesses whether there's a substantial and identifiable benefit from an overseas person buying farmland. We know that New Zealand farmers are amongst the most efficient in the world. There is really a significant benefit for an overseas person coming in and buying farmland. So in this bill those criteria will become statutory rather than just being in a ministerial letter. So any overseas applicant will have to demonstrate a substantial point of difference in the likely level of economic benefit or oversight or participation by New Zealanders if they want to receive consent for that purchase.One of the other issues that this bill strengthens—again recognising that it is a privilege for an overseas person to own land in Aotearoa New Zealand—is the requirements around advertising. That's to ensure that any New Zealanders wanting to buy a farm get an opportunity to see it being advertised—because there have quite often been some retrospective applications for consents when those advertising requirements haven't always been fully implemented. So this is updating this requirement ensuring that it can be done on electronic media as well as in print media and just strengthening that requirement.The other issue where it's making a significant improvement is in relation to completing the Queen's chain by requiring that areas of foreshore and seabed and riverbed can be transferred to the Crown when the adjacent land is sold to an overseas purchaser. As Tamati Coffey mentioned the issue of water bottling and overseas companies taking water from Aotearoa and exporting it without paying anything for that water is a hot button issue for New Zealanders. This bill largely because of the advocacy of Green colleagues is about enabling decision makers to consider the impacts of investments where an overseas company or person is wanting to buy land and that land has a water right attached to it that could be used for water bottling. Similarly it is bringing the legislation up to date and requiring much clearer consideration of issues around tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori so that that is more of a factor—those cultural values—in decision making.It's a significant improvement. The bill represents a lot of the consultation that was done on the phase two changes to the Overseas Investment Act—recognising that phase one was about reducing speculation particularly by overseas owners in our housing market; stopping that happening—and working to implement a number of quite practical changes to improve the process and to ensure that the environmental benefits of investment can also be better considered.So the Green Party supports this bill is pleased that the Opposition is supporting it going to select committee and has every confidence that the Finance and Expenditure Committee will give it very serious and thorough consideration. We'd also like to particularly acknowledge all of the officials in Land Information New Zealand the Overseas Investment Office Treasury and other Government agencies who have worked incredibly hard over a short period of time in response to COVID in taking apart really the Overseas Investment Amendment Bill (No 2) putting some of the measures into the urgent measures bill and the other ones into this. So I really congratulate and thank them for their work and commend the bill.