Foreign Investment

Adam Bennett in the Herald reports:

Prime Minister John Key has met with the Auckland-based Save the Farms group to discuss their concerns around farm sales to foreigners and says their proposed controls are “pretty hardcore” and more suited to North Korea than New Zealand. …

Later Mr Key told the meeting he had met with the Save The Farms group at their request and he believed it was not well understood what they were proposing.

The group wanted a ban on all sales and leases of farmland, orchards and vineyards to foreigners and constraints on forest ownership.

“It is pretty hardcore. Putting it bluntly I don’t think any country has that level of prohibition – maybe North Korea.”

While John McKearney who was backing Save Our Farms was “probably well intentioned” Mr Key noted he was a a property developer who had prospered by selling buildings to foreigners.

Hilarious.

What interests me about the Save Our Farms group, is whether any of them actually own farms? You see generally those who actually own the farms don’t want the state telling them they can not sell to the highest bidder. They are the ones who lose out – the current farm owners.

Mr Key yesterday addressed Federated Farmers National Council meeting in Wellington where president Don Nicolson had earlier given a speech railing against Save The Farms.

Mr Nicolson said the group’s stance “reeks of hypocrisy” given the residential sector carried $192 billion in debt, whereas the agriculture sector’s debt was just $47 billion.

“So I ask why just save our farms and not save our homes too?”
“When I see a Remuera property developer part of this group, I have my doubts about the purity of their motives.”

You go Don. Too right.

Of course Labour have joined Save Our Farms in advocating North Korean policies. Labour are effectively going from having approved 600,000 heactares of land sales to saying they will not approve any sales at all. Have those guys never heard of a happy medium rather than bouncing from one extreme to another?