2. Overseas Ownership of New Zealand Property—Exemption for Te Ārai DevelopmentHon GERRY BROWNLEE (National—Ilam) to the Associate Minister of FinanceOverseas Ownership of New Zealand Property—Exemption for Te Ārai Development2. Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (National—Ilam) to the Associate Minister of Finance: Has he received any advice about the exact nature of iwi ownership in each Lot of the Te Ārai property development land as described in the exemption in the Overseas Investment Amendment Bill reported back from the select committee; if so what was that advice?Hon DAVID PARKER (Associate Minister of Finance): No.Hon Gerry Brownlee: When he told the House in answer to question No. 3 on Tuesday that as far as he knew stakeholders of Te Ārai were a New Zealand citizen a New Zealand resident and then yesterday that it was a Politik article of 21 June that alerted him to the extent of iwi involvement was he saying that the iwi involvement was not part of his original decision to advance the exemption?Hon DAVID PARKER: No.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Then given his answer today that he did not seek information about the ownership of the various lots noted in the exemption and that iwi was primarily effectively the reason for his advancing the exemption then what was his reasoning for not taking some other legislative step to advance the iwi?Hon DAVID PARKER: What we do in the future is yet to be determined. The exemption was ruled out of order. In terms of the breadth of the exemption the previously proposed transitional exemption would have only applied to a small proportion of the land nominated in the bill. That is residential lifestyle land which is neither coastal-sensitive land and which is less than five hectares in area. Golf courses forestry land and the like were never proposed to be covered by the now defunct transitional exemption.Hon Gerry Brownlee: In his consideration leading to the Cabinet paper seeking the exemption did he ever ask the question: who will benefit most from this exemption; and if so what was the answer?Hon DAVID PARKER: No I didn't ask it in those terms but I did inquire who would be the beneficiaries of the exemption and I was advised by Treasury that the iwi would be. I was aware that by the end of the process the other developers would get a benefit who were developers with the iwi. And of course the other beneficiaries would have been the people who got the benefit of the exemption as overseas people who would have been able to acquire that land as overseas people when they would not have been able to but for the exemption.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Why then did he decide to seek the exemption when Treasury advice that he received on 19 March advised against it he had not sought clarification on who would benefit most from the exemption and he knew that Te Ārai Ltd did not record iwi as shareholders?Hon DAVID PARKER: Because after discussions with my Cabinet colleagues the Government thought that it was appropriate that although there'd be no general exemption for all Treaty settlement land a transitional exemption was justified in this case.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Did any of his colleagues or officials tell him during his consideration of the exemption that Ngāti Manuhiri's 2016 annual report states: Four hundred and seventy-two hectares of the land in question was sold in the 2015-16 year to Te Ārai South Holdings." which the iwi have no shareholding in and only retained 200 hectares of lower-value sand dune land intended for sand mining?Hon DAVID PARKER: No they didn't. I think it's fair enough for the Opposition to question whether the select committee or I perhaps should have looked into further in respect of some of those details. We of course would have had the opportunity to do that and if there were changes necessary could have made them at the committee stage of the House. But of course that is now not open to us. I made the decisions that I recommended to Cabinet based on the information I had at the time.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Did the Hon Shane Jones ask him to advance the exemption and if so did he explain that the iwi had very little to gain from this exemption?Hon DAVID PARKER: I had discussions as I've already said with the Hon Kelvin Davis and with Shane Jones and my other Cabinet colleagues.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Did the Hon Shane Jones ask for the Minister to have regard to some exemptions and the driving force behind that request was the former National Party leader Sir John Key?Hon DAVID PARKER: No he actually didn't raise the name of John Key with me. In fact I wasn't aware of that until Tuesday evening.Hon Gerry Brownlee: During his consideration of the exemption did he hear—and I quote—"Why do Kiwis going about their lives as best they can have to fight every step of the way to preserve what is their right against a billionaire developer from another country and a complicit Government?" and if he did how did he respond to the Rt Hon Winston Peters who I've just quoted?Hon DAVID PARKER: No I wasn't aware of that quote. I am aware of the discomfort that the Rt Hon Winston Peters has with the sale of land to foreign buyers. The reasons why we thought a transitional exemption was necessary in this case have previously been explained.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Could I ask the Minister whether when Shane Jones approached him he also apprised him of the fact that not only was Sir John Key the former National Party leader in favour of these exemptions but so was Steven Joyce the former National Minister of Finance?Hon DAVID PARKER: Well again actually at the time I wasn't aware of that. I've subsequently become aware of that because someone showed me a Hansard transcript. What I was aware of was that the National Party have advocated for broad exemptions for the wealthiest foreigners to buy land exemplified by Hamish Walker's proposition that Queenstown should have an exemption for sales to foreign buyers of $5 million or more.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Does the Minister now accept that the iwi in this case have very little or never had much to gain from the exemption and that he was by and large hoodwinked by his Cabinet colleagues from New Zealand First into making what is ultimately a—a—Rt Hon Winston Peters: A—a—a—a what?Hon Gerry Brownlee: I'm sorry I was impersonating the Acting Prime Minister—my apologies. Mr Speaker can I start that question again because I was interrupted?SPEAKER: I think it'd be a good idea. We'll sort of take off the penalties from both sides for the interjections on that and we'll start from zero and the Hon Gerry Brownlee will start the supplementary again.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Thank you. If in fact he as he now says understands that the iwi had very little to gain from this does he believe he was hoodwinked by his New Zealand First colleagues into promoting this exemption?Hon DAVID PARKER: No and I said nothing of the sort. In fact on a number of occasions I've said that I was advised and have still been advised that this is the largest asset of those particular iwi.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Could I ask the Minister as to whether or not it's also a fact that not only Sir John Key the former National Party leader and Steven Joyce the former Minister of Finance but also the National Party's number one apologist Michelle Boag is involved as well?Hon DAVID PARKER: Look in terms of the National Party advocates on behalf of exemptions I can't keep up.Hon Gerry Brownlee: How soon does the Minister intend releasing all of the Official Information Act requests around this matter as he said he would do on Tuesday?Hon DAVID PARKER: I'm endeavouring to do that as quickly as possible. I was advised that there is a large volume of papers that have to go through the normal redaction process—not to redact any details relating to the Te Ārai development but in respect of other proper redactions. When I was advised that that would take some time I requested the ministry to concentrate on the Te Ārai - relevant Cabinet papers and advice so that they could get it out early and I'm expecting that that will be early next week.Hon Gerry Brownlee: That long to redact it?Hon DAVID PARKER: What was that? I didn't hear that interjection.SPEAKER: No I think it was a facetious interjection on the part of the Hon Gerry Brownlee. Has the member finished?Hon Gerry Brownlee: Yes.SPEAKER: Thank you.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Oh no well not entirely—I mean next week's another week.SPEAKER: Yes. No I think I'll leave the obvious rejoinder to that one."