Willis NicolaNICOLA WILLIS (National): National is supporting this bill at second reading and we do so because we acknowledge what we heard from submitter after submitter at the Finance and Expenditure Committee. And that was that the overseas investment regime that Labour had introduced had created significant regulatory burden huge amounts of red tape huge amounts of administration that wasn't actually furthering any of the goals of the Act which is to ensure that investment supports the needs of New Zealanders and that it can be managed effectively. So this bill takes steps that are practical to reduce that regulatory burden and I want to acknowledge the expertise of the submitters that we had before the committee because we did have people who understand the practical way that this legislation needs to be interpreted and they took great efforts to inform the members of what the legal changes would mean in practice and I think by helping us to understand this bill is better for it. So I want to acknowledge my fellow committee members in that effort as well.One example of this that is important to me and is a part of the law that I will be watching closely to see how it actually impacts was restrictions around farmland because the restrictions of overseas investment in farmland had the potential to actually restrict investment in potential housing. So the changes that we made at committee loosened the arrangements so that unproductive farmland that isn't actually ever going to be used for productive agriculture and is more likely to be repurposed for residential or commercial use doesn't face the huge burden that productive farmland faces.Overall National's position is that we support the role that foreign investment plays in supporting New Zealand to develop and to create jobs. We see a role for bringing money into this country to support the livelihood of New Zealanders. We acknowledge the need to be very careful about that investment and for there to be controls around it but we don't want this to be the country that is the hardest in the world to actually put your money into. We want to be a place where people want to help us invest in innovation new projects new ideas and where we can attract money to get those things going. So I just want to make sure that that is on the record.I also want to turn now to a very important issue that is not dealt with in this bill that we could have dealt with in this bill and that submitters raised with us and that I think it is potentially an issue that New Zealanders will become very concerned about in the coming years and that is the way we deal with foreign investment in forestry in New Zealand.Now I was in the Wairarapa earlier this week and I tell you what people in the Wairarapa are very concerned about the changing face of their communities. Because what Labour did was they said basically We're not that interested in foreign investment but if you want to put your money into converting a farm into forest fill your boots go for it. You can use foreign money to buy up to 999 hectares of forestry rights within a calendar year—go for it." And the results across New Zealand have been stark. Because if you say to investors "You're not allowed to really put your money into much in New Zealand but you can go hard on forestry." what do they do? They've gone hard on forestry and up and down this country we have seen productive farms that for decades if not more than a hundred years have supported the livelihoods of communities of individuals and of families that have produced food and exported it to the world are now pine trees.The results are really real. I'll tell you about the guy who came up to me at the pub and said "Nicola I know you're an MP. I want you to know this: my town doesn't have a rugby team anymore because there are not people working on the farms. It's all trees." So this is a very real issue. We have a Government that has tilted the field towards forestry. It is having a massive economic and social effect and it's National's view that this needs to be looked at and it's disappointing that Labour didn't take the opportunity in this bill to remedy that imbalance."