Peters Winston: General Debates 
Peters Winston: General Debates 
[Volume:618;Page:14394] 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 That was a valedictory speech from a member of a once-important party in our country long since so which is why the name of the party is spelt with such a small “p” these days. I want to talk about something the Alliance used to believe in which is New Zealand ownership of New Zealand assets. In the period between 1988 and 1999 a total of $9.2 billion of State assets was sold first by the Labour Government and then by the National Government. 
There is one party in Parliament that has principles in respect of New Zealand ownership of assets—so much so that we walked out of the Government on that principle back in August 1998 on the issue of whether the Wellington Airport would be sold to a majority foreign ownership. We say that our sovereignty as a country has been taken by stealth by successive Governments of a Labour and National hue that allowed this country to become putty in the hands of big business abroad that has conned short-sighted politicians here into believing that we need it to bail us out. The truth is that we are not better off as a country as a consequence in respect of our assets and wealth—quite the converse. 
The current Government has not learnt the lesson at all. Its blind strategy is obvious although it is not so visible as it used to be. Just recently it moved the threshold in respect of overseas ownership to $100 million before there is any scrutiny at all. Can anyone tell me how many New Zealand companies have $100 million? That means 20 percent of our market can be purchased tomorrow without any scrutiny whatsoever. We are being priced out of our country and no Labour-led or National-led Government is going in to bat for New Zealanders any more. Already 97000 hectares of South Island high country has been sold to overseas interests—an area equivalent to three Paparoa National Parks. Farms in this country are being sold like second-hand cars at a vehicle auction. All this has been under a Labour-led Government and National would be so much worse. 
Dr Cullen said his intention was to ensure that the new criteria took a broader view. Yeah right. What he is scared of is being called “anti-business” although 95 percent of New Zealand businessmen know this is a bad idea. They know because of our balance of payments crisis amongst other things. The Government claims that buyers will be required to stipulate in their applications how they will manage land with special heritage or environmental value. So there it goes a doff to the left and the massive sales will go on to foreigners; a little doff to our environmental areas and the massive sale programmes will go on. 
Do members know that Cabinet rejected a Treasury paper that stated the figure should be not $10 million which is what Labour inherited not $50 million as it changed it to and not $100 million which it has got up to now but that Treasury recommended the figure be $250 million? Do members know what Cabinet said? It said that was a tad high; it was a bit high. When we have a Government that takes such a casual approach to New Zealand ownership then we have a Government that needs to be tipped out of office. 
The Government states that the $100 million rule is expected to cut the annual number of businesses that are able to seek approval from 20 to 12 on average. That is good. So now we are to have fewer people owning more of our land. That is the result. Land with an unimproved value of more than $10 million—and that will be in our central cities—no longer requires any consent whatsoever. Dr Cullen and his Labour colleagues are so nervous that overseas investment has declined that they have lost faith in New Zealanders to create more market access and new technology ideas. All this time we have billions of our savings dollars in the “Cullen fund” parked off shore making a fortune for some other economy. Who can figure that out? He says that we must change these rules to attract foreign investment. It is not that at all of course. It is a foreign takeover. We would not see that in Japan Taiwan Singapore Ireland or any other country in the world. He opens up this country to all sorts of takeovers whilst he has parked off shore billions of dollars of New Zealand - saved money in the “Cullen fund”. That is utter madness.