Rt Hon Winston Peters

New Zealand First Leader

Member of Parliament for Northland
20 APRIL 2016

PM Promises to Streamline Foreign Buying of NZ Land

The PM is paving the way for more Chinese land and asset ownership in NZ by promising faster decision making, says New Zealand First Leader and MP for Northland Rt Hon Winston Peters.

“This comes right on the back of the Panama Papers and revelations that NZ is being used as a tax haven by the wealthy from overseas because we don’t have full disclosure of the trust ownership.

“The last thing we need is the understaffed Overseas Investment Office (OIO) now being told to hurry land buying applications through.

“The OIO has said assessments take time because of complex company structures.

“In other words, individuals go to great lengths to get around any system, and maintain secrecy.

“This is exactly the same problem with the foreign trusts in New Zealand; we don’t have full disclosure.

“If Mr Key wants to ‘streamline’ the OIO then he should demand applicants front up with clear and concise documents outlining ownership structures and not hide behind deliberate intricate business creations.

“Mr Key is playing down Kiwi concerns over foreign ownership to the Chinese by saying New Zealand has people who are against foreign ownership.

“Strange that, when he is speaking in a country that bans foreigners from land ownership.

“There is an image of pathos being portrayed by Mr Key in China. The much vaunted free trade deal of 2008 has, as predicted, fallen way short of the best deal and much less beneficial to New Zealand than the Australia free trade deal is for Australia.

“It is China that is laying out the rules and New Zealand making all the concessions, and all the hype and propaganda from the PM’s office cannot disguise that.

“As for the interests of the NZ dairy industry, he will leave China with less than nothing having been achieved.”

ENDS

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