Calls for an overhaul of rules governing foreign ownership of
farm land increased yesterday, coinciding with the
Chinese-backed company lodging an application to buy 16 North
Island dairy farms with the Overseas Investment Office.
Prime Minister John Key, a leading agricultural academic, the
Property Council of New Zealand, the Council of Trade Unions
and the Green Party have all questioned the laws governing
foreign ownership of New Zealand land or called for them be
overhauled in light of Hong Kong-backed Natural Dairy's bid
to buy the Crafar family's dairy farms from receivers.
Property council chief executive Connal Townsend said debate
over ownership of the Crafar farms "appeared to have tapped a
racist vein", and he urged Parliament to address foreign
ownership rules.
Natural Dairy (NZ) Holdings has told the Overseas Investment
Office its investment in the Crafar farms would boost New
Zealand exports by $100 million and result in further
investment of $30 million.
A statement released by Natural Dairy vice-chairman Graham
Chin said the investment would secure the existing 32 jobs
and create a further 92.
It also planned to create a fund of up to $5 million a year
to create additional opportunities for sharemilking.
State-owned enterprise Landcorp said on Monday it planned to
bid for the farms, a move that has the support of Mr Key, who
told NZPA he did not want New Zealanders to become tenants to
foreign company owned-farms.
The Government may look at changing foreign ownership rules.
"As a general and broader principle, I think New Zealanders
should be concerned if we sell huge tracts of our productive
land.
"Now, that's a challenging issue given the state of the
current law and quite clearly it's evidentially possible and
has been achieved that individual farms can be sold.
Looking four, five, 10 years into the future, I'd hate to see
New Zealanders as tenants in their own country and that is a
risk, I think, if we sell out our entire productive base, so
that's something the Government will have to consider," Mr
Key said.
Lincoln University's head of farm management and
agribusiness, Keith Woodford, said the process of assessing
land purchases by overseas investors was ad hoc and he
questioned why the Overseas Investment Office decided
applications rather than laws.
"There should be laws people have to follow rather than
having to convince someone at the Overseas Investment
Office."
Prof Woodford said such laws must treat all foreign investors
the same regardless of which country they came from.
He did not think comments by Mr Key about the undesirability
of foreign ownership of farm land was in conflict with the
New Zealand-China free-trade agreement, as virtually every
country had land ownership restrictions.
In China, all land was owned by the State and foreigners were
only allowed to lease land, as Fonterra does with its 35ha
Tangshan demonstration farm established in 2007.
Mr Townsend said allowing foreign investors to only lease
land as suggested by Green co-leader Russel Norman would send
a message that New Zealand was "off-limits to much needed
capital".
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