Sage EugenieHon EUGENIE SAGE (Minister for Land Information): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. I'm very pleased to speak in support of the Overseas Investment (Urgent Measures) Amendment Bill and recognise the comments by the Opposition. It is disappointing that they're not supporting the bill particularly given the changes in the bill which will streamline the process for overseas investors and support the role that productive overseas investment plays in our economy.The previous speaker the Hon Judith Collins blamed this bill for the economic distress that is occurring. There is a major initiative in this bill through the temporary notification regime to ensure that we don't have key assets which have dropped in value because of COVID being alienated overseas. At the moment there is a $100 million threshold before any business assets and their sales have to be examined by the Overseas Investment Office if there is an overseas investor.In Australia in Canada and in other European countries they are tightening their scrutiny and that's what the emergency power does here. If an overseas investor wants to increase their stake in a company in New Zealand to beyond 50 percent or wants to buy the first 25 percent then that has to be notified to the Overseas Investment Office. What the previous speaker ignored is the process that Minister Parker outlined at the first reading. There will be a triage process that the Overseas Investment Office goes through and determines whether any investments need to be elevated to the Minister of Finance to consider. So it won't be all investments that go through that; it will be a process of notification triage and determine whether there are significant issues here that the Minister of Finance can make a decision. It gives us the power to put conditions on any sale to an overseas person or if necessary if it's in the national interest to potentially block that sale. So the National Party may not be concerned with iconic New Zealand businesses being snapped up at fire-sale prices by overseas investors but this Government is. Yes this bill has been developed quickly because we are responding to COVID and because we are agile. I'd like to thank the 18 individuals and organisations who made submissions to the Finance and Expenditure Committee. I would like to also thank all of the officials in Treasury in the Overseas Investment Office in Land Information New Zealand and the Parliamentary Counsel Office who have worked hard to tight time lines along with those submitters to improve this bill. One of the key things that the bill also does when the effects of the COVID pandemic are over is it implements a national interest test because under the current regime we don't have in our existing Overseas Investment Act an ability for the Minister of Finance to call in transactions which affect our national security our democracy or key strategic infrastructure like airports ports and bigger irrigation companies. What this bill does is it introduces a national interest test which enables big transactions like that rarely to be reviewed by the Minister of Finance and to have conditions imposed. So it is all about this Government ensuring that we get high quality investment in Aotearoa New Zealand and that we protect our national interests. So I am surprised that the Opposition doesn't welcome that but it apparently doesn't care what sort of investment we get in New Zealand whether it's quality investment or not. It's also surprising that the Opposition is not supporting the bill because it makes some very sensible changes to improve the process by which applications are considered. At the moment there is this whole issue of good character. Overseas investors have to be of good character but that often involves the Overseas Investment Office undertaking quite a long and complicated assessment of the good character of the individuals who have control of the potential investor. That can often involve internet assessments and some insubstantial pieces of material that come into play that have to be considered. What this does with the changes here is it enables the Overseas Investment Office and Ministers to consider the corporate character not just the character of the individuals but of the actual corporate bodies. It will be ensuring that any serious matters that are before a court for example or if there have been offences where the company has been convicted—those can now all be considered because of the emphasis on the character of the corporation and not just the individual. So that is a substantive improvement. It will also improve the timeliness of the processing of applications but the key thing this bill does is this new temporary notification regime to protect Aotearoa New Zealand's national interest and to implement a national interest test which will allow the Minister of Finance to call in applications if required. As Minister Parker has said it will be used rarely. And final point: this bill is going through under urgency. Yes that has meant that a lot of work has been done at speed but the Overseas Investment (Urgent Measures) Amendment Bill (No 3) will enable any defects in this bill to be corrected. The Government has responded to some of the issues which submitters raised to ensure that there's no overreach in the temporary notification powers by ensuring that within 45 days of the changes commencing the Minister of Finance must start an assessment of the classes of transactions that are subject to the emergency notification review. That will give I think investors the confidence that we're not overreaching here. Then there is also a rolling 90-day review for the operation of these powers. So I think those are safeguards. That 45-day assessment has been put in in response to submissions so I thank the Finance and Expenditure Committee for their work and thank officials for their work. I commend the bill to the House. Thank you.