McAnulty KieranKIERAN McANULTY (Labour): Thank you very much Madam Assistant Speaker. I'm pleased to take a call on this the Overseas Investment Amendment Bill and I do commend it to the House. I think the purpose of this bill is quite clear and there's a very clear principle at stake here. We need to ensure that investments made by persons in New Zealand will have a genuine benefit to this country. This bill is about addressing a very clear issue facing this country and that of course is the shortage of houses available to those living here. It was once a realistic dream to own a home. It was once a realistic dream to buy a farm. That is no longer the case for far too many people. An important principle at work here is that New Zealand - based buyers should be able to help to shape the New Zealand housing market. The fact is that now it is not New Zealand - based buyers who are shaping this market. What is being introduced here with this Overseas Investment Amendment Bill is a new level of screening—screening within a structure that is already in place—to ensure that investment in this nation benefits this nation.Residential land will be considered sensitive land for the purposes of the Overseas Investment Act—the Act that will be amended by this bill. Residential land is sensitive right now in the common usage of the word sensitive". Many now consider owning their home to be a pipedream. We cannot sit back as the previous Government has done over nine years and let the dream of homeownership slip away for too many people. The fact is that we need to do something here and this bill is going a long way to doing so. It is part of a wide range of packages. Nobody here is suggesting that it is the silver bullet and it will fix everything. But this Government is going to fix what is facing too many people in this country. I'd note that the bill is not an outright ban on investment by overseas people. The change would not stop purchasers of residential land outright because foreign investment in New Zealand including in residential land can bring genuine benefits to this country. Accordingly overseas people will be allowed to purchase sensitive land that is residential land if they can demonstrate that it is of benefit to this country. This is a common-sense position to take a focus that is of real benefit to this country.Now I take particular interest in this bill. I live in Masterton. Masterton was a town where you could always afford to buy a home. With the prices of houses in Masterton and the wider Wairarapa—indeed the wider Wairarapa electorate which encompasses the Tararua district and the Central Hawke's Bay district as well—it was always a case where regardless of what job you had you had a realistic possibility of buying your own home. The towns of Wairarapa have been feeling the impact of the housing crisis for some time. The first part of that was because of the inaction of the previous Government which led to the introduction of the loan-to-value ratio of 20 percent which unfairly discriminated against those that lived in rural and regional New Zealand because they had to save up much higher deposits than were needed. That at the time was not an issue facing places like Wairarapa yet people there were feeling the burn. I do not blame the Reserve Bank. That was a mechanism that they had to put in place because the Government simply would not act. What was a huge problem for Auckland Wellington and some other larger urban centres is now also a problem for our smaller places like Dannevirke like Waipukurau and like Masterton. Now some of these are good things. The fact that we have more people moving to our region is a good thing. There is no doubt about that but it does create challenges. In Wairarapa we are very lucky. We are lucky. We are within an hour and a half's drive from the capital city so we benefit from the fact that we have a connection to a large urban centre and we have a regular commuter rail service. However a lack of investment in that and other core infrastructure and a lack of support for local councils has meant that now Wairarapa is facing the strain of having an influx of people from the larger urban centres.I congratulate the Masterton District Council for its promotional efforts in attracting those from Auckland. It identified that there was an issue there—that people in Auckland simply could not afford to buy a home and that because we were close to Wellington we had an advantage that other regions such as perhaps Hawke's Bay or Wanganui may not be able to have because they do not have that benefit that connection the regular connection to the capital city. But it is placing a strain. I feel for places like the Tararua district and the Central Hawke's Bay district which have a very low population spread across a very large area. Now the Tararua district could benefit from its proximity to Palmerston North. The towns of Pahīatua Woodville and Dannevirke are starting to see people moving there because people can work in Palmerston North and travel. There is an impact there however because what they're facing is an incapacity to invest in infrastructure for growth. This is a problem facing many rural areas. It is also an issue facing—Hon Steven Joyce: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I just think we're a mile away from the bill here at this point. It's the Overseas Investment Amendment Bill. I think discussing infrastructure in Dannevirke is all very important but maybe if we could ask the member to talk about the bill.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): I think that's very helpful. I'll encourage the member to actually come back to the specifics of the bill.KIERAN McANULTY: Thank you very much Madam Assistant Speaker. That's not the first time the previous Government hasn't wanted to hear about the issues in Dannevirke. The problem is that—Hon Steven Joyce: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. With the greatest respect to the member that's not a helpful intervention. He was invited to come back to the point of the bill. I'm more than happy to debate Dannevirke and other parts of this wonderful country as soon as the member puts up a bill about it but this is not the case in this case.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): I thank the member. I encourage the member to speak to the specifics of the bill.KIERAN McANULTY: Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker I appreciate that guidance. The Overseas Investment Amendment Bill—the fact is that we need to amend this for a very simple purpose like I was about to come to which is that those in the cities felt the strain of being unable to buy their home first. Now those in the regions are feeling that strain and the regional councils and the local district councils are feeling the strain of the housing crisis because of the pressure that it is putting on them.I mentioned earlier of course that it is not an issue just facing the cities. There is a very clear principle at stake in this bill. This bill recognises and reaffirms that is a birthright of New Zealanders to be able to afford a home and indeed to be able to afford productive land. If you have a right to live here you should have a right to buy here and this bill goes a long way to ensuring that's the case. New Zealand and Australian citizens and permanent residents who reside here will be able to buy existing homes in New Zealand without going through the screening of the Overseas Investment Office. It is my view that this is yet another example of this Government acting where the previous Government has not. The housing crisis has affected too many people. It was a key issue in the last election campaign and it is a key issue that led to a change of Government. The objective of this Government bill is to ensure the principle that homes should never be commodities. We're not talking about something that should be traded on the international market; we're talking about something that people should be able to strive to buy and live in: homes—homes—which has been undermined by the previous Government not just in terms of affordability but in many other issues as well.This Government continues to welcome foreign investment as long as it brings benefits to New Zealand. Now that's a principle that's been in place for a very long time through the Overseas Investment Office and we're talking about businesses and communities as well. Where it benefits New Zealand it should be welcomed. We particularly want to encourage foreign investment where it adds to our economy. Investment in existing homes however by those who do not have the right to reside here and have no intention to live here does not help that objective. It also does not help the first-home buyers the people out there that are now having to face the issue of saving up and finding themselves facing a much larger deposit than has ever been required before.Another important note is that despite what we heard during the campaign banning overseas buyers is indeed compatible with New Zealand's free-trade agreements. The ban is compatible with almost all of our existing trade agreements. The past Government I note said that it was impossible to put this ban in place. I want to acknowledge the Associate Minister of Finance the relevant Minister here the Hon David Parker who took this issue by the horns almost immediately upon election and has proven to the previous Government and to the people of New Zealand that they were wrong—that the previous Government was wrong just to be clear. We have put in place something very quickly. I note the comments that have been made in that regard previously. We actually had no choice. This issue was neglected by the previous Government and in order for this to be in place before the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement comes into ratification we had to put something in place. I commend this bill to the House and congratulate the Ministers and the officials for putting the work into it."