Phil

GOFF

MP for Mount Roskill
5 December 2013 MEDIA STATEMENT

Bill to limit rural land sales to overseas buyers

The sale of farms to overseas investors will be restricted under proposed new legislation, Labour’s MP for Mount Roskill Phil Goff says.

“My Overseas Investment (Owning our Own Rural Land) Amendment Bill will be debated by Parliament after being drawn from the Member’s Ballot today.

“John Key once said ‘New Zealanders did not want to become tenants in their own land’. He never did anything about that; this Bill does.

“It stops wide purchase of New Zealand land by foreign investors unless significant benefit to New Zealand can be proven.

“Labour believes Kiwis are concerned about farms being sold to foreign buyers when there is no benefit to New Zealand.

“Foreign purchasers simply wanting to speculate in a country that has no capital gains tax and who have no expertise in farming only inflate farm prices. That hurts Kiwis wanting to buy their own farms.

“The Government has discretion to turn down farm sales to overseas investors but that power has not been exercised by the National Government.

“My Bill allows foreign investment in rural land only where it delivers benefits over and above what a New Zealand investor could produce. If an investor can prove they will contribute significant job creation and increases in exports, then the investment can be approved.

“Kiwis want to control their own country for the benefit of all New Zealanders.

“A major part of our current account deficit comprises interest and dividends paid to overseas investors.

“Losing the ownership and future profits from more of our farm land, by allowing New Zealanders to be outbid by overseas investors, is not a solution to that problem,” Phil Goff says.

ENDS

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