Grigg NicolaNICOLA GRIGG (National—Selwyn): Thank you Madam Speaker. I'm very pleased to take a call on the Overseas Investment (Forestry) Amendment Bill at its first reading and join my colleague Ian McKelvie in supporting it. I am speaking this evening as the National Party spokesperson for land information—which does include oversight of the Overseas Investment Office—but also with my rural communities hat on who I think more than most have been quite fearful watching the impact of what they determine as the Government's inaction on this issue. At its most basic the bill aims to address the increasing number of land-use conversions we've seen particularly in that class 6 to class 8 land and the ease with which these conversions have occurred under the special forestry test which is set out in the Overseas Investment Act and is the brainchild of that party formerly known as New Zealand First.Afforestation has become more and more common in recent years as the price of carbon has begun to rapidly escalate and many New Zealanders have watched with horror the largescale conversion of farmland. As a sheep farmer's daughter it has been a painful discussion around the dinner table on many an occasion. Whereas the price of carbon at the outset of this law was about $30 a unit in the intervening years it's climbed to about $75 and some would predict it could well end up being at about $200. But even at the current carbon prices it's not unheard of for the profitability of forests to be around $2000 per hectare and when you look at hill country sheep and beef farming at around $400 a hectare and finishing at about $750 a hectare you can understand why these largescale land-use conversions are taking place.Overseas investors have been allowed access to this land to take advantage of these carbon prices using this more streamlined special forestry test. Under that test about 23000 hectares have been acquired by overseas interests for full forestry conversion and that includes about 8000 hectares of class 1 to 5 land which we all know is highly productive pastoral land.There has been particular concern raised by groups like 50 Shades of Green that this conversion has come at the expense of local communities and their schools and land and farm that has been in particular families for generations. And that really does need to be explored at select committee because in the absence of any coherent strategy from the Government which has been working in this space for about—oh how many years?—four years since 2018.Federated Farmers has also expressed concern on behalf of rural communities. I think the Meat & Wool chair William Beetham said it very well when he said—and I quote—The recent spike in the afforestation of sheep and beef farms is not the result of consumer-driven demand but heavy-handed and short-term Government policies designed to incentivise more trees regardless of whether or not it is the right tree in the right place." He also made the comment of the current settings that this bill is looking to change that "Overseas investors can simply plant pine trees claim the credits sell them and take huge profit overseas while New Zealanders carry the consequences now and into the future."Which brings me to my next point: there has been a total lack of clarity from the Government about a plan or even who is taking the lead on dealing with issues like the overseas investment framework. In Budget 2022 which we heard just recently it appears that Minister Nash had responsibility through his $30-odd million industry transformation plan but we also have Minister O'Connor who's the Minister for Land Information and holds that delegation whom we haven't heard from. We were expecting Minister Parker to bring this legislation to the House tonight; instead we have Minister Davis. And I think that paints a picture of a very confusing set of circumstances for both industry and farmers and really highlights a lack of ownership from this Government.The changes that this bill seeks to bring about we on this side of the House would say are a no-brainer and should not have taken this long to get to this point. Rural communities expect leadership and not haphazard legislation made up on the fly on the hoof according to how the polls are reading. On this side of the House we understand the flow of direct foreign capital and the importance it plays in New Zealand—it is the key to securing sustainable economic growth—but we also understand that it must not come at the detriment of our ability to remain as one of the most efficient primary production sectors in the world.So we on this side of the House very much look forward to hearing the evidence that will be presented no doubt to the select committee and watching that committee work through these details of this bill and therefore we do commend this bill to the House."