David Bennett - Land Information

20 June 2018

Hypocritical Greens fail on water bottling policy

The Green Party’s claim the law prevented them from declining an overseas buyer’s application to expand their water bottling plant is merely an attempt to excuse their hypocrisy, National’s Land Information Spokesperson David Bennett says.

“Green Party voters have been betrayed by their MPs, who are trying to blame their hypocritical decision to approve the sale of land to a water bottling company on provisions in the Overseas Investment Act which they promised to change immediately upon entering government.

“Labour and the Greens are trying to hide behind the Government’s reforms to the Overseas Investment Act, implying they’re efforts to live up to their promises, but those reforms won’t help because they primarily deal with residential housing.

“The fact is, Land Information Minister Eugenie Sage has confirmed she has not taken any action since becoming a Minister eight months ago to change the rules and that she has nothing in progress to implement the Greens’ water bottling policy.

“Ms Sage has not taken a single step towards living up to the promises the Greens made in Opposition when they bitterly criticised the previous Government’s decisions.

“Instead, Ms Sage blindly followed the OIO recommendation when precedent in cases like the applications to purchase Lochinver Station and Auckland Airport showed she could have exercised her Ministerial discretion differently.

“The Greens and their mates in Labour are misleading their angry supporters and hiding behind the laws set by the previous Government aimed at encouraging overseas investment, when in fact all they’ve done is prove what a bunch of hypocrites they are.”

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