O'Connor Damien: Taxation (Land Information and Offshore Persons Information) Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeO'Connor Damien: Taxation (Land Information and Offshore Persons Information) Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 25 June 2015. Volume:706;Page:4818. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR (Labour—West Coast - Tasman): Given the splits and divisions in the National Party I am amazed that this bill has actually got this far into the House. Given the level of property ownership across the National Party there must be many who have been uneasy about bringing this bill to the House. The reality of the property market is that the highest common denominator drags up the value for everyone else. “Everyone else” in this case is the poor New Zealanders who are trying to get on to the property ladder in Auckland and simply have not been able to afford to do so.This is not a “road to Damascus” but rather a “street to Damascus” piece of legislation. It is hardly a bandage; more like a band-aid for a major issue facing not only New Zealand but Australia Hong Kong and Singapore who have all moved to make significant changes in legislation to stop what they see as a flood of foreign investment into their property markets. Well this is the best that the National Government can do.It cannot even decide whether it is for a register of foreign investors or not. We have got the Prime Minister on record saying things like “We are not sort of absolutely resolute that it’s such a terrible idea. We just think that we have fairly good information already.” But then we are told that this piece of legislation is actually not for a register but it is for gathering information: “It’s quite a tricky thing the register. It’s not quite as straightforward as people think so we’re not afraid of a register.”—that is the Prime Minister. Is it for registering foreign owners of property in this country or is it not? It is a pathetic piece of legislation but in the absence of anything else the Opposition will support it to the select committee.The Government is trying to portray this view that it has got new-found empathy for poor New Zealanders trying to have a home. These are Kiwis who need who deserve and who want a home—somewhere to bring up their families in security. The laws as they are around rental properties and the exposure that those people have from landlords who want to flick on their property means that we have over 50 percent of the people in Auckland living in rental properties and living in insecurity. That is not good enough. The Labour Party was founded on the basis that we put people into secure homes and offer them a job and some security for the future. This bill is pathetic.As I say it must have been an interesting caucus trying to work out whether it should put this bill up or not given the statements of denial time and time and time again from Ministers across the House—they do not need a register; they do not need to address the issue. If there is one person or perhaps two people who should be credited with this piece of legislation one is Phil Twyford who has been pushing and pushing—Hon Maurice Williamson: So it’s Phil’s pathetic legislation?Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR: —and the other person is Fran O’Sullivan. Fran O’Sullivan very clearly laid it out in a column yesterday in the New Zealand Herald—and clearly the National Party members have probably read this. Even Mr Williamson would have read this. I mean she is quite—asking the question of whether we are prepared for the new wave and it is only just the new wave of $6.6 trillion in the hands of Chinese investors who want to go out around the world and invest in property. That is $6.6 trillion. It has been estimated that we might get 3.3 percent of that and that is $11 billion coming into New Zealand that is likely to further overinflate the property market without any guarantee—any guarantee—of new homes and houses being built.This is a dilemma of monumental proportions and the Government has put up a band-aid piece of legislation.In Australia they have moved in Hong Kong they have moved and in Singapore they have moved to protect their people. We are not xenophobic on this side of the House but we are patriotic. We are here for Kiwis. We are not picking on the Chinese other than to say that due to their hard work and organisation—I have to remind people that it is not a capitalist country over there; it is a communist one actually. Due to their success they have trillions of dollars of capital that they want to invest. The question is: will that money coming into New Zealand help Kiwis or not? Does Mr Williamson think that we need a register or not? What do his people in Auckland think about having to compete with foreign money when they go to an auction to try to buy a home for their family? That is what it is about. So what we have got here is a piece of legislation that moves towards a register.The question I have of the Government and it will be asked in the select committee I am sure is will this be extended to farmland? Will this be extended to farmland? Because the Government has put up the argument time and time again that it is far too complex. Oh we cannot have a register. It would be too costly. Well I say to the Government that if it got a PC with a bit of grunt it could have a register of all the foreign-owned properties up and down this country both residential and commercial and farmland as well.There have been pathetic excuses. Why? Because the Government’s mates the funders of the National Party the real estate agents and the people who have been doing very very well out of this have not wanted to move in this area. As that investment comes in it drags up the value of the property market. There is not much more in the way of new houses and new capacity coming on stream at the bottom of the market. The developers who we are told want to rush out and build more houses have a vested interest in slowly developing the properties that they have not to flood the market with properties to ensure that there is indeed an ongoing shortage and people are forced to pay more and more. If it is the foreign investors who come in and help prop up that valuation it is at the expense of ordinary hard-working Kiwis who want to have a home.We will as I say support this legislation to the select committee but I could go back to some wisdom as I said from Fran O’Sullivan who must take some credit. Her timing was perfect. She put the column out yesterday and we have legislation in the House today. But I have to say that it is my colleague Phil Twyford who has been pushing the Government who has been holding its feet to the fire and who has been pointing out to the public of New Zealand that the status quo is simply unsustainable. Can I quote Fran O’Sullivan who has not been a great fan of Labour but who does put up some very honest opinion: “Almost to the point of absurdity the NZ Government has been careful not to single out Chinese investment.” The only reason I refer to it is the quantum of investment dollars sitting there looking for a home. We will have a register or whatever the Government wants to call it for all foreign investors and that is the way it should be. But let us not be naive about the amount of money that wants to come to a country that does not have an effective capital gains tax and that leaves the door open because it does not have a proper register of ownership. That is why the Government should move and take some real action to protect New Zealanders and their families.The Labour Party will support this legislation to the select committee but I can put on record the fact that we will scrutinise every part of it to try to ensure that what is passed is effective in protecting New Zealanders young Kiwis and their dream that they too can one day own their own home because if we do not take more moves if we do not do anything effective then we will be flooded out by a wave of foreign investment. We only have to go to Australia or to Hong Kong or to Singapore to ask them why they have made these moves and implement in a similar way protections for us. We are not xenophobic but we are patriotic.