Foster-Bell Paul: Overseas Investment (Protection of New Zealand Homebuyers) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFoster-Bell Paul: Overseas Investment (Protection of New Zealand Homebuyers) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 25 May 2016. Volume:714;Page:11316. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PAUL FOSTER-BELL (National):Tēnā koe e Te Mana Whakawā. It actually makes my stomach turn to hear a speech that although dressed up in language about protecting New Zealand home buyers is at the heart of it round two of the Labour Party’s attack on people with Chinese-sounding surnames. We are a country that for a long time has welcomed people from overseas. For a long time this country has welcomed our forebears whether they be my forebears who came here on a waka 900 years ago or whether it be those who came on a sailing ship from Scotland 100 years ago. We have been a country built up by the people who have come here worked hard and contributed to our society and that is why this bill is a revolting piece of dog whistle politics once again from a member who one would have thought would know a little bit better than this.This bill by amending the Overseas Investment Act 2005 applies a new level of restrictions on all non-resident purchasers of New Zealand residential properties. It does beg the question of whether this will also apply to non-resident New Zealanders who have chosen to go offshore. We know that a significant proportion of the 3 percent nationwide—or 4 percent in Auckland—of non - New Zealand tax resident purchasers of property are actually New Zealanders who are working overseas perhaps in Australia perhaps in the UK perhaps in Asia. There is a growing class of New Zealand entrepreneurs and business people who are choosing to go to China and do business in that burgeoning developing market for us. Will these measures apply to New Zealand citizens who for reasons of business or marriage perhaps are choosing to go and live offshore?Under the provisions of this bill non-residents will be granted permission to purchase a residential property only if they intend to live here permanently or if they are going to add to the housing stock. The motivation for this bill is based on absolutely shonky data. Frankly I find it terrifying that the main Opposition party—the largest at least Opposition party in the New Zealand Parliament; although we have learnt in recent weeks it is not necessarily the largest Opposition party by party membership—the alternative Government of New Zealand is suggesting I think such a retrograde and dog-whistling measure.So even if you were a student coming to New Zealand here on a student visa you would be required to sell your house within 12 months if you were going to leave New Zealand perhaps to do a post-doctoral qualification after having graduated here with a PhD or a valuable post-graduate qualification. We know that for people studying at that level it is actually very usual normal practice to go and do a period of time perhaps at an overseas university or to do a post-doctoral qualification maybe at a research laboratory. These people will often come back to New Zealand and make a huge contribution.We can look at a number of the great achievers the people who have made significant scientific advances. I look to someone like Dr Swee Tan who has contributed enormously to the alleviation of strawberry birthmarks among New Zealand infants and toddlers who suffered from that debilitating and disfiguring condition. He has contributed hugely to the research that allowed those young people to be cured of that condition without the hugely traumatic intervention of surgery which was previously the case. So someone like Dr Swee Tan is for me an example of a very fine New Zealander someone who makes a huge contribution but is the sort of talented person who after having perhaps completed post-graduate study here in New Zealand might rightly and properly go overseas to do work in a laboratory and will hopefully return to New Zealand. We want to make it as easy as possible for those sorts of people to come back to New Zealand not place barriers in the way as this bill would do.There is absolutely no need for this bill given the statistics. The shonky statistics come from the Labour Party. They are not the neutral figures that were published by our neutral Public Service—from Land Information.Phil Twyford: Highly selective and manipulative figures.PAUL FOSTER-BELL: They are not at all manipulated as the member claims. What I would say is manipulated is his statistic of 15000 ghost houses. One can only presume Mr Twyford’s 15000 ghost houses are a little bit like the missing million Labour Party voters who did not show up at the last election. It is completely fictional.I think this is an absolutely hopeless bill. It shows the xenophobic underbelly of the modern Labour Party. It would disgust previous fine Labour Ministers and Prime Ministers. The founding fathers of the Labour Party would no doubt be turning in their graves at this sort of measure. It is revolting and I will be voting against it.