Mark Ron: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMark Ron: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 17 September 2015. Volume:708;Page:6799. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]12.RON MARK (Deputy Leader—NZ First) to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by all his statements?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Deputy Prime Minister) on behalf of thePrime Minister: Yes in the context in which they were made.Ron Mark: Does he stand by his statement he made during the election campaign last year that said “Selling lots and lots of land to China I don’t think would actually deliver massive amounts of benefit to New Zealand.”; if so why did it take him 12 months to reject the Shanghai Pengxin offer to purchase Lochinver Station?Hon BILL ENGLISH: In answer to the first question yes. In answer to the second question the member should look at the Overseas Investment Act which makes it very clear that the relevant Ministers make a decision about the land sale exercising statutory responsibilities and in order to approve a sale or otherwise they have to look at the evidence around I think 23 separate tests. That is how the decision is made. The Prime Minister does not make those decisions.Ron Mark: Given that he said when he was gathering votes in the election that “Selling lots and lots of land to China I don’t think would actually deliver massive amounts of benefit to New Zealand.” why has the Government signed off on 50 land sales to foreign buyers in the last 6 months?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Well in the first place my understanding of it to the extent one can know from approvals is that the number of sales to people with Chinese-sounding names is probably pretty low. The other ones have been signed off because they passed the tests laid out in the Act which was written and voted for by New Zealand First. If it does not like the consequences of the Act that it passed when it was in Government then I suppose it should try to win an election to change it.Ron Mark: If there is no substantial benefit in selling Lochinver to a foreign company where is the substantial benefit in the Government’s allowing the sale of our largest beef exporter or half of Silver Fern Farms to a foreign company or for that matter to the Pinny Farms in Northland?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Again the Overseas Investment Act does not work on political slogans. It works by laying out 23 tests for sensitive land and those have to be applied consistently to the individual proposal. These are two quite different transactions. You would not want to prejudge how they will be dealt with but the tests for businesses are different from the tests for sensitive land and that was what was voted into the law by New Zealand First when it was in Government and wrote the Act we are now applying.Ron Mark: If this National Government is genuinely working for New Zealanders as it said it was during the election campaign why has it rubber-stamped the sale of 50 farms over the last 6 months and allowed farm sales that have effectively jacked up the price of New Zealand land such that New Zealand young farmers are being priced out of the market—[Interruption]—such that New Zealand young farmers are priced out of the market—Gerry?Mr SPEAKER: Order!Hon BILL ENGLISH: With respect to jacking up the price I am not sure about the member’s familiarity with land transactions but if the price is higher it is being paid to a New Zealander. He may be opposed to New Zealanders getting a fair price for their farms but the law that his party wrote says that if the particular transaction meets all 23 tests then it is a legal and permissible transaction. We are administering law written by New Zealand First.Grant Robertson: Does he stand by his statement in regard to the Lochinver Station sale that it would be a dangerous position to pre-judge the decision “and that could be reviewed by the courts”; if so is he concerned by the statement by the Hon Bill English on 6 September 2014 in relation to Lochinver Station that “we won’t block that sale.”?Hon BILL ENGLISH: No not at all. We did not block the sale because a Government cannot block the sale. What it does is that two specific Ministers assess the proposition against the 23 tests laid out in the Overseas Investment Act. That is how the decision gets made. If we were asked to “block” the sale we made it clear there would not be a political decision as the Labour Party would make to refuse to sell land to people with Chinese-sounding names because we are not xenophobic like the Labour Party.Mr SPEAKER: Order!