Is Labour against this foreign purchase?

Seamus Boyer at Stuff reports:

Hollywood movie mogul James Cameron is coming to live in Wairarapa – and he is bringing his family with him.

The director of blockbuster films Titanic and Avatar has purchased two large plots of land along Western Lake Rd in south Wairarapa, where he is expected to arrive and live later this year.

Records released today from the Overseas Investment Office show that James F Cameron, of Canada, was given consent in December to purchase two separate properties, one 817 hectares and the other nearly 250 hectares.

That’s around 15% the size of the Crafar farms. where are the howls of outrage from Labour? I mean Cameron is a foreigner.

But the documents show that Cameron’s New Zealand connection will be more than just a working one.

”James F Cameron and his family intend to reside indefinitely in New Zealand and are acquiring the property to reside on and operate as a working farm,” it notes.

But but but what expertise do they have in farming?

Under Labour’s election policy on foreign investment, Mr Cameron’s application would be declined as they said all sales will be declined unless the purchaser “will also invest in significant further processing of related primary products and related jobs”.

So I look forward to Labour MPs forming a picket line at the airport waving “Cameron go home” placards.

Of course I think it is a good thing Cameron has been allowed to purchase land here. There are numerous way we may benefit from his presence in New Zealand.

Just as when Julian Robertson purchased rural land up north. Who would have thought that he would come to love this country so much (despite not being a citizen) that he would donate over $100 million of art to New Zealand galleries.

That is why I think the current test of “in the national interest” is the appropriate one rather than Labour’s highly restrictive criteria.