Parker David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Parker David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:667;Page:14638] 
7. 
Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour) 
 to the  
Minister for Land Information 
: How many farms or forests worth $1 million or more are currently the subject of Overseas Investment Office consent? 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON (Minister for Land Information) 
: 
 Twenty-two. 
Hon David Parker 
: Given the Prime Minister’s stated concern about the sale of large tracts of dairy land to overseas buyers and the breadth of the Minister’s existing discretion to decline why did the Minister not decline the largest-ever at $34 million sale of some of New Zealand’s largest dairy farms to overseas interests just 2 weeks ago? 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: Because as I have said many times in this House I am bound to act within the law. The law as set out in the Overseas Investment Act 2005 which was written by Labour has criteria that must be adhered to. We would be able to be judicially challenged if we did not adhere to those criteria. The application the member refers to met all the requirements of the law. 
Hon David Parker 
: Why does the Minister pretend that he does not have the broad discretion to decline farm sales now if he chooses to exercise his existing discretion? 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: In fact the current law did not have enough criteria in it for Ministers to make some of those discretionary decisions and that is why quite recently the Minister of Finance announced two additional criteria which are to do with the economic interest test and the aggregation issue which I think was the other area people were concerned about. Once those criteria come into effect on 1 December Ministers will have more tools in the tool box to make those decisions. 
Jonathan Young 
: Has the amount of the land going into foreign ownership increased or decreased over recent years? 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: I think I can best answer the question by giving the exact numbers. Between 2000 and 2008 while Labour was in power 650000 hectares of land were sold to foreigners— 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: How much? 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: —650000 hectares of land were sold to foreigners peaking in 2006 with in just 1 year the sale of 383000 hectares. I must say that in that 1 year Labour did decline one application— 
Hon Member 
: What? 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: —it did; it declined 2.5 hectares. Since National came into power the total amount of land sold to foreigners has been less than 20 percent of that figure at just on 33000 hectares. 
Hon David Parker 
: Can the Minister not see that the way the discretion has been exercised by him and his predecessors proves the need to narrow the Minister’s discretion as proposed by Labour rather than just add two more criteria that the Minister can override? 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: I think the member is basically calling into question his own performance given that that discretion was— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: We learnt. 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: Oh “We learnt.”! It took 9 years but “We learnt.”! I think the two new criteria that now come into effect on 1 December are absolutely vital to make sure the Overseas Investment Act works and as Minister I will continue working within the law to make sure it works. 
Hon David Parker 
: Why has the Minister agreed to the massive $34 million sale of dairy farms to Americans but is still delaying his decision on the Crafar farm applications by Chinese interests and is that because of politics and xenophobia; if not what is the reason for the delay? 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: This question is really easy. The American application came to me from the Overseas Investment Office ready for a decision so we made the decision. The Crafar farm decision has not yet come to me so I have not.