Prime Willow-Jean; Williams PotoWILLOW-JEAN PRIME (Labour): Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker. Thank you for this opportunity to speak briefly in this split call to the Overseas Investment Amendment Bill. I'm pleased to stand here and talk about this bill and to talk about this issue that was actually raised with me during the campaign. It may be that it is simply anecdotal evidence that people are relying on but it was certainly a concern that was raised with me in the Northland electorate around foreign buyers buying homes in New Zealand and concerns around rising homelessness in our region.So what is the problem? The Kiwi Dream of homeownership is slipping away. Only a quarter of all adults under 40 own their own home compared to half in 1991. Homeownership is at its lowest level in 65 years. Out-of-control house prices are putting homeownership beyond the reach of middle New Zealand. Kiwi homes should not be gambling chips for overseas speculators.I want to talk about Māori homeownership. The rates of Māori homeownership and Pasifika homeownership have also dropped between 1991 and 2013 by 32 percent and 38 percent respectively. The failing housing market is leading to stark inequality between old people and young people and the rich and the poor and it is harming the health of Kiwis the country's productivity and the Government's books. There are wider social costs including costs associated with overcrowding and homelessness and poor educational and labour market outcomes.Now there's been some talk this afternoon about the numbers the percentage and quite frankly we simply don't know and we need to collect real data. And as has been pointed out Treasury in their analysis said: Analysis on the likely impact of this policy is constrained by a lack of empirical data including around current levels of overseas investment in the housing market." What I have seen from the research that I have done is we simply don't know and it could be between 3 to 20 percent.This is not a silver bullet to our housing crisis—this one bill that we are introducing. However when you look at it in terms of a wider range of Government policies that we are looking to introduce to address our housing crisis including the building of 100000 affordable homes for first-home Kiwi buyers; stopping the sale of State houses; increasing the State housing stock; extending the brightline test; ending the tax loophole; warm dry and healthy homes; and a dedicated policy for better homes for Māori—when you look at all of these in totality it is going to have a huge impact and be a huge benefit to our issue that we currently have around homelessness and our housing crisis in New Zealand.This Government is prioritising homeownership and housing ability for all New Zealanders. How do we propose to do that? Well I talked about several initiatives that we are looking at but in terms of this bill the purpose of this bill will mean for practical purposes that foreign buyers will not be able to buy residential property unless they are either increasing the number of residences and then selling them or converting land for other use. They will need to be able to show that this will have wider benefits for the country. New Zealand's housing market needs to be shaped primarily by New Zealanders. Investment in residential land by persons that have no right to reside here and have no intention to live here does not achieve that objective.I am a member of the Finance and Expenditure Committee and I look forward to this bill coming to our select committee. I look forward to hearing the submissions that we will receive from the public. This will give the select committee the opportunity to make sure the regime is set appropriately so that people who want to make New Zealand their home are not discouraged and New Zealanders can have the opportunity to comment on this bill in the select committee process Kia ora.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): I call Andrew Bayly—five minutes."