Connell Brian: Overseas Investment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
Connell Brian: Overseas Investment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:626;Page:21554] 
BRIAN CONNELL (National—Rakaia) 
: 
 When I took a call in the debate on the first reading of this bill I said that the National Party has no problem with the concept of foreigners pouring their hard-earned cash into New Zealand subject to certain rules of engagement. I went on to say that everyone wins: overseas investors get to live in Godzone and we get money for education and infrastructure. That is how citizens of New Zealand get to grow their wealth and that is the contribution that foreign capital makes to our economy. 
I was very much of that opinion when I came down to the House to talk on the second reading of this bill until I struck the “Mugabe clause”—the “Parker Pimpernel clause”. That is the clause that says—and this is from a rural member the member for Otago—it is OK to take people’s private property rights and it is OK to take the best part of their land and annex it without even offering compensation. The man’s true socialist agenda came pouring out and he is wearing it on his sleeve. He wonders why he will not be coming back to the House after the next election. Bye-bye Mr Parker. 
We should not be surprised that this is the type of thing the Government is doing. The same Government that is promoting this legislation is suggesting that the public can roam at will across private property. When Michael Cullen was on his feet he slapped a sneaky little left jab into my colleague Nick Smith—below the belt as is Michael Cullen’s way—by suggesting that this is the type of nonsense that the National Party would support. What he conveniently overlooked is that this is a Government bill sponsored by Michael Cullen and this sneaky nasty little clause is in the name of David Parker the soon to be former member of Parliament for Otago. But we should not be surprised because this is— 
Pansy Wong 
: Jacqui Dean is coming here. 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: Jacqui Dean is coming. I know her. She is working hard and knocking on a lot of doors in Otago and she will be here very soon. 
But we should not be surprised that this Government would embark on this type of rhetoric. I was at a public meeting in Timaru where the Minister of Agriculture—a Minister of the Crown—got up and in a public forum said that the annexing of private property can be justified in the public good. That is the sort of thing one would expect to hear from the leaders of some Central African countries. But to hear it from someone in the New Zealand Government who represents the Crown is simply unsatisfactory and not acceptable. 
It is all right for people like Mr Parker to say: “This land is everyone’s. We’ll put a value to it. No one’s going to miss it.” but that is the worst type of interference in the property market that I can think of. The member from the ACT party I thought made this point particularly well. Why is it that we have been seduced by minority groups into thinking that foreign ownership of our land means that New Zealanders will not be able to enjoy it? The facts do not stack up. Of the land that has been sold in the high country around mid-Canterbury six of the 11 stations sold in the last 2 years went to New Zealand interests. So much for the argument that they have been priced out of the hands of Kiwis. Fifty percent of those that were resold over the last 10 years went to New Zealand interests. 
Michael Cullen himself stood in the Chamber a few minutes ago and said: “You can’t take the land with you.” That is right. One cannot. It is always going to stay here. Yet that same Minister is sponsoring a bill that says it is OK to steal other people’s property. That is simply unacceptable. The great shame of all this is that rather than attract capital to New Zealand we are now getting ourselves into a situation where potential investors are starting to become gun-shy. Instead of welcoming those people and instead of using their capital we are losing that opportunity. I can think of an example in mid-Canterbury where a five-star beef block—