McClay Todd: Urgent Debates — Overseas Investment Rules—Sale of Crafar Farms 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
McClay Todd: Urgent Debates — Overseas Investment Rules—Sale of Crafar Farms 
[Sitting date: 14 August 2012. Volume:682;Page:4331. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua) 
: 
 The court found that the Minister for Land Information acted within the powers of the law. The Labour Opposition may wish that he acted against the law it may wish that he broke the law but the fact of the matter is that he did not. This is nothing more than muck-racking by the Labour Opposition and scaremongering by that Labour Opposition and we have had a lot of that over the last 4 years. 
Here is the challenge that we had because the Labour Party position is political hypocrisy of the worst type. First it tells us it is against selling land to foreigners but what happened in its 9 years of Government? It sold 666000 hectares to foreign interests—666000 hectares sold to foreign interests. Its No. 1 cheerleader its spokesman who got up on this issue David Parker when he was Minister for a short period of time on this issue sold 240000 hectares of land to foreigners all by himself. Now under this Government in a 3-year period one-sixth of what Labour did has been allowed to be sold to foreigners. That is just over 100000 hectares. David Parker sold 240000 hectares all by himself. I know what he will do when he leaves this place and it will be to do with real estate sales in the rural sector. 
Labour has since changed its position. It is no longer against foreign investment and the sale of land to foreigners—just some foreigners. You see it says no to the Chinese but yes to other nationalities. We have heard those members say in this debate that that is not the case at all but the Chinese know that for some Canadian film-maker who wants to buy some land some dairy farm in the Wairarapa that is OK. When David Shearer was asked about this he said Chinese: no but he did not have very much to say when a Canadian film-maker from the Wairarapa wanted to buy a couple of farms. This man James Cameron made a wonderful film that almost everyone in this House would have seen. Do you know what the Labour Party has in common with that film  
Titanic 
? It is in disarray and it is sinking without trace. That was the message that came from that film. 
Ten thousand hectares of land were sold under the stewardship of David Parker when he was Minister to John Shrimpton a UK businessman a moneyman with high-country farm stations in Canterbury. Who was it who sold that? Who signed off on it? It was David Parker again. So here we are—Chinese no; some Wairarapa film-maker from Canada yes. Chinese no; a businessman from the UK down in Canterbury yes. And even worse than that do you know what happened in that farm deal of the tens of thousands of hectares of land in Canterbury? The rights of everyday New Zealanders who used to go to that highland in the summer to camp and recreate were taken away when that Minister at the time David Parker signed that agreement into law. The rights of New Zealanders were taken away and that concerns me greatly. 
David Parker also mentioned forestry. He admitted in the House that he allowed forest to be sold to foreign enterprises. Now he bleats that Labour has learnt its lesson. It is too little too late. It is a Labour Party sideshow. Labour has no interest in growing the economy. It has no interest in foreign investment. It has no interest in mining. What do we find? The only interest it has is in restricting nationals of some countries: the Chinese—not the Canadians not from the US and certainly not from the UK. This was a private sale of private interests. This was private land in New Zealand and it was a private sale. What the Labour Opposition is telling New Zealanders is that it wants to start telling them who they can sell their houses and their farms to who they cannot sell them to and for what price. The Government has no right to be involved in New Zealanders’ business and their interests in that respect. 
Mr Parker said that he wants to live in a country where sharemilkers can buy their own farms and I say hear hear to that. But in the 9 years of the Labour Government it did not do a single thing to back farmers in this country. It screwed them with the emissions trading scheme. It screwed them with compliance. It tried to turn New Zealanders against farmers. Michael Cullen—remember him saying that the reason interest rates were so high and exchange rates were so high is those greedy farmers were making far too much money overseas? Remember the last election? Just before the last election Labour said to farmers and rural New Zealanders that farmers do not pay any tax that they are not bearing their weight and that they are not doing enough for the country. What happened at that election? It held one seat in rural areas in provincial New Zealand—one seat down on the West Coast of the South Island when they are actually still probably against mining on the other side of the House. 
Then we see that Mr Shearer and co. have been doing a farmland tour of provincial New Zealand getting out and acquainting themselves with these parts of New Zealand where they have no representation. Can I tell you their tour over the last week or two around provincial New Zealand has nothing to do with provincial New Zealand. It is the development of a tourism policy because they have not been there enough they do not know much about it and they were having a good look around when they were there. That is what that was about. 
What I finally want to say on this issue is do you remember David Shearer a few days after he became leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition standing by himself in front of a farm on the edge of the Taupo electorate—a Crafar farm—and saying he would bring a bill to this Parliament that would fix this issue? Well can I say that the only thing more invisible than “The Invisible Man” is any benefits from the invisible bill that he wants to be here because when he was questioned at the time about what it would do where would the boundaries be and what would the scope of it be he said “We haven’t worked out the detail yet.” So that is what we know about the Leader of the Opposition—“The Invisible Man” with invisible detail with an invisible bill that will deliver absolutely nothing for this country. May Wang was the lady who wanted to buy some farms that the Minister legally turned down. Go and do a poll in New Zealand and I bet you her name recognition is higher than “The Invisible Man”—the Leader of the Opposition David Shearer. I absolutely guarantee it. 
We have Russel Norman who said that he is against the sale of these farms. Actually to be fair to Mr Norman he is against most things that most reasonable people say they want to do. But I think the real reason that Mr Norman is against it is that he is under some misconception that a few years ago the Chinese tried to steal his flag. You remember that? He was waving it around saying “Give my flag back give my flag back.” This is about investment in New Zealand—something that that party is against. This is about backing New Zealanders to help us get on and grow the economy—something that that party is against. 
I want to say to this House that this was a legal act. The Minister acted within the bounds of the law. Those farms are still here and they will still be here. The Opposition may not like that; it may not want it. It may not want the Chinese to be buying farms in this country but it is OK for other nationalities. But the Minister has acted within the best interests of this country and within the law because this is a lawful Government. Thank you.