﻿Mr SPEAKER: The House comes to Questions for Oral Answer.
Question No 1, Rt Hon Winston Peters.
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) to the PM:
Does he stand by all his statements; if so, why?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY (PM): Yes, because I believe them
to be correct at the time they were made.
Rt Hon Winston Peters: Does he stand by his statement
that he would “hate to see NZers as tenants in their own country”;
if so, why did his Government so avidly support Shanghai
Pengxin Group’s purchase of farms in the central North Island
and now 10 dairy farms south of Kaikohe in Northland?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY: In answer to the first part of the question, yes.
Mr SPEAKER: Supplementary question, the Rt Hon Winston Peters.
Hon Steven Joyce: Opposing investment in Northland again.
Rt Hon Winston Peters: Oh, here is “Big Ears” again.
He lost in Northland pretty badly.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order!
I am going to invite the member to stand and ask the supplementary question.
Rt Hon Winston Peters: Why has his Government encouraged China
to control so much of NZ’s dairy infant formula, from production testing
through to marketing and sale of NZ’s premium agricultural product?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The position of the Government is not necessarily
to encourage investment from anywhere but to allow a framework
whereby if people want to invest they are free to do so,
but they have to meet the conditions set out
in the Overseas Investment Act. They have to be approved
by the Overseas Investment Office. Actually, the Government thinks
investments by Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co. Ltd,
Yashili NZ Dairy, and Bright and others have actually been
sensible investments in the same way that we think Fonterra’s
investment in Beingmate was also a sensible investment.
Rt Hon Winston Peters: When will the National Government understand
the law of supply and demand, which sees Auckland housing demand
massively inflated by record levels of immigration into Auckland
and record levels of buying Auckland homes by offshore interests,
and do what the Australian Federal Government has done?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY: As I understand it, in Australia what they have done
is they have stopped, in theory, non-residents from buying
existing properties, but in fact the actions of the Australian Government
over the weekend essentially are saying that those measures
were not working and required greater enforceability—a testimony
to why those things are very difficult to enforce.
The second thing is that despite the steps the Australian
Government has taken, I am pretty sure I am right in saying that
Sydney house prices have risen at the same rate as Auckland’s,
but I actually think they have risen at a faster rate.
Rt Hon Winston Peters: Do not all those answers add up to the fact
that this Government, whilst making dog whistles about foreign ownership
before the general election, has done absolutely nothing
to stop it since?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY: There is foreign investment.
If one looks at a table— and, funnily enough,
I looked at one this morning— the bulk of that foreign investment
actually comes from Australia.
China, if the member is being specific about China,
is quite a small investor in NZ. But, interestingly enough,
what I think is really important is that anybody who comes to NZ
from overseas to invest follows the Overseas Investment Act.
I am interested to note, of course, that the author
of that Act was the Rt Hon Winston Peters.
Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker.
Answers to parliamentary questions are meant to be terse
and to the point. That last statement was a demonstrable lie.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I would also be grateful if the member could,
equally, ask short and terse supplementary questions.
Question No 2.
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