Donald Rod: Overseas Investment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
Donald Rod: Overseas Investment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:626;Page:21571] 
ROD DONALD (Co-Leader—Green) 
: 
 I say to those members who like Mr Power are concerned about the extent of time the Chairperson has given me that this will be my last call. I am grateful for that time because apart from New Zealand First the Greens are the only party opposing the liberalisation of foreign investment in New Zealand. I know that ACT would like absolutely no rules on foreign investment but at least it holds no sway in this debate. 
As far as wanting to introduce tighter controls on foreign investment—something we think most New Zealanders support—I have a few more amendments that I would like to explain to the Committee and to the people of New Zealand who are listening. The first is to clause 32. It relates to the whole issue of compiling and maintaining a full and correct record of all land business and building sales to foreign investors—something that I think is absolutely vital and should be a responsibility of the regulator to do and to report on annually to Parliament. 
I am pleased to say that most of the members of the Finance and Expenditure Committee recognised that there is a paucity of information about the extent of foreign investment in New Zealand. The Government officially acknowledges that somewhere around 1 million hectares of land is foreign owned that a certain amount of our coastline is in foreign ownership—approximately 57 kilometres—and that around 2720 hectares of offshore islands and around 150000 hectares of high country are in foreign ownership. But absolutely no records are kept of land that is owned offshore that falls below the various thresholds contained in the schedules. All the members of the select committee acknowledged that there is some concern in the community about the extent of land purchases in particular areas by foreign buyers even when most of the individual purchases are below the threshold. 
I was pleased that the whole committee agreed with this statement in the commentary on the bill: “High demand by overseas persons increases house prices and can make it unaffordable for some New Zealanders to own property in such areas. There is currently no means for determining the extent of overseas ownership where the properties purchased are below the applicable threshold”. The majority of the committee went on to state: “… the collection of information regarding the residency status of property owners would be valuable.” I am pleased that that recommendation is in the commentary along with an encouragement to the Government to consider implementing a pilot programme to collect that information. 
That is good as far as it goes but we simply say it should go further and be obligatory. The Greens are concerned about two matters. One matter was raised by the whole committee and that is the fact that foreign investors are outbidding Kiwis. We are not just talking about the bach at the beach or the family farm both of which we think Kiwis should be able to buy; we are talking about that first home which is so vital in order for Kiwi families to get the start in life they deserve. The dream of owning one’s own home is now turned into a nightmare because so much foreign capital is coming into New Zealand particularly from Australia. Investors are buying up cheap residential properties and making it impossible for young Kiwi families to buy their own homes. So much for National’s property-owning democracy or Labour’s ownership society! The fact is foreign investors are allowed to outbid Kiwis when it comes to buying that first home. 
We have evidence of that. We have anecdotal evidence from around the country—from Kaitaia to Invercargill. In terms of specific evidence when I was on a select committee exchange to Australia last year we met a New South Wales Labor MP who was coming to New Zealand to buy up properties in Huntly and Ngaruawahia.