Govt can't produce foreign farmland figure

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NZ Newswire | Mar 13 2013

Govt can't produce foreign farmland figure

An opposition party is demanding hard figures on how much farmland is owned by foreigners, but the government says it can't produce the figures.

NZ First MP Andrew Williams says there should be a register of foreign ownership because estimates range from one per cent to 8.7 per cent.

He cited a report in parliament on Wednesday by Council of Trade Unions economist Bill Rosenberg, who has estimated that 1.2 million hectares are owned by foreigners - 8.7 per cent of all farmland in New Zealand.

He asked Land Information Minister Maurice Williamson what the official figure was.

Mr Williamson said the Overseas Investment Office didn't keep statistics on current foreign ownership.

"Absolute statistics of foreign ownership are impossible to produce because foreigners are free to sell their land to New Zealanders without any notification and many foreign owners eventually become New Zealanders by way of citizenship," he said.

"I would suggest Mr Rosenberg's figures are a bit shonky... he has a crystal ball or a ouija board and he's come up with a number."

Mr Williams says the government's failure to hold accurate information means "a massive chunk of New Zealand" could be sold to foreigners and no one would know.

"The process has already started. The latest example is the sale of eight Waikato dairy farms, totalling 3205ha, to Swedish pension fund Forsta AP-fonden," he said.

Mr Williams says he is drafting a member's bill to create a register that would cover all land sold to foreigners, residential as well as farmland.

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