Come Rich Foreigners – New Zealand Is For Sale

Written By: - Date published: 1:08 pm, February 24th, 2025 - 4 comments
Categories: act, chris bishop, Christopher Luxon, david seymour, housing, national, national/act government, nz first, overseas investment, same old national, winston peters - Tags: , , ,

Over the weekend, David Seymour announced the government’s plans to “overhaul” the Overseas Investment Act.

The Act looks after overseas investments in sensitive assets in New Zealand. Its main purpose is balancing foreign money in our sensitive assets/lands/fisheries/forestries with the risks associated with that.

This includes considering New Zealand’s national and economic security

In other words, very standard foreign investment rules and criteria – and always weighed up against Kiwi interests.

But, over the last year, accompanied by go-to words like “economic growth,” and “too hard for investors”, this government has been progressively softening NZ up to make it very easy for foreigners to snap it up.

Yesterday, Seymour said decisions on overseas investments would be “hastened” to 15 days, and would only take longer if it was residential, fisheries, or farm land.

But most home residential applications are already completed quickly – 10 days, to 30 days if it’s sensitive land.

To cut a large proportion of other applications to 15 days is an extraordinarily fast turnaround, especially when it comes to evaluating NZ’s economic security and national security risks.

But it all makes sense once you look at how Seymour is achieving this.

In June of 2024, Seymour instructed LINZ to complete 80% of applications within half of the statutory timeline.

This is measured at the top level – so regardless of the category – whether fishing quotas, forestry, homes to live in (including sensitive lands) etc. – LINZ staff are being pressured to pick and choose where to devote their attention.

The government calls this a “risk based approach” – which is corporate language, and in this case manipulated into bullshit, masking as sense.

If that sounds opaque, consider how David Seymour worded and sold his school lunches program – see my other article today.

These are the current statutory timelines for foreign investment:

LINZ website

To bring 80% of applications to half of the statutory timeline, and to pressure LINZ to complete a significant applications within 15 days appears ill-advised, given due diligence is critical to safeguarding NZ’s interests.

Then consider this against the backdrop of the government cutting staff and constraining budgets and pay across government departments.

74 net positions were cut from LINZ just last year by Nicola Willis’s budget.

i.e. Go faster, approve quicker, with less staff of matters of national security and NZ’s economic security.

What could go wrong?

These factors do not appear important to the sitting government though.

Under Minister Seymour’s directive to Land Information NZ (“LINZ”,) NZ shouldn’t even bother with a risk assessment in the vast majority of cases.

LINZ should also “only seek to verify information” if there is a specific reason to suspect the information is unreliable.

And staff must “rely on statutory declarations [from foreigners etc.]….as verification of the information provided”.

Has this government not heard of the words “fraud” or “counterfeit”?

Further, Seymour directs investigation is unnecessary unless there is a specific cause to suspect the information is unreliable.

Even whenthere is cause to suspect our national security is at risk, Seymour directs that the case must be resolved in a relatively short timeframe for its category (55 days) AND no assessment of the benefits to NZ need be considered.

Unless it goes to the Minister, in which case the Minister will make the final call.

Everything seems to pivot around what’s good for investors – and not what impact it will have on New Zealand.

They direct LINZ to pivot around minimizing “compliance costs on investors”, rather the considering benefits to New Zealanders.

In a nutshell, to my reading, everything in Seymour’s ministerial instructions scream: “Open the front door and let them in. Quickly.”

Is it any wonder that a survey late last year revealed foreigners feel that right now:

“New Zealand assets are cheap because there isn’t a lot of competition for them, the economy is weak and, on the flipside, recouping the cost of the investment is relatively easy from New Zealand consumers.”

i.e. Kiwis are seen as easy fodder to make money from with a business and foreign friendly government at the helm.

And the fire sale of our assets is open.

Anyone who thinks this is an ACT Party push is sorely mistaken.

It’s backed to the hilt by a foreign money salivating Prime Minister, an ex-tobacco man whose father helped set up Taxpayers Unions i.e. Chris Bishop, and New Zealand First.

The latter of which are soft walking Kiwis to announcing that NZ First could be very comfortable with NZ houses sold to wealthy foreigners so long as there is, you guessed it, “significant economic benefit” to the country.

Except for all apparent purposes – the word “country” may have to be replaced

More Games To Benefit Vested Interests

In further revelations under this government, Newsroom’s Fox Meyer reports that Fast-Track Ministers Chris Bishop, Shane Jones and Simeon Brown personally nominated 97 fast-track projects, personal picks that this government previously denied even existed.

And that comes on top of news (not found anywhere on any front page of Stuff or NZME) that the government intentionally broke rules to pass the fast-track bill that benefits private companies – and is disallowed under NZ parliamentary rules.

Is this corruption?

Is this us, Aotearoa New Zealand?

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4 comments on “Come Rich Foreigners – New Zealand Is For Sale ”

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  1. Mike the Lefty 1
    25 February 2025 at 12:55 pm

    It's all very well to welcome foreign investors, but what we want are foreign investors who are willing to stick it out in NZ during the trouble times,and this will certainly happen at some time, not just pack up as soon as things take a turn for the worst – as we have seen so often.

    Among the questions the government should ask prospective investors (although probably won't) are:

    1. Are you here for the long haul?
    2. Will you employ NZ workers as much as possible?
    3. Are you willing to work with unions? (They certainly won't ask that one!)
    4. Will you minimise damage to the environment?
    5. Will you clean up after yourself when/if you leave?
    6. If you do leave, will you facilitate the business being on-sold to another concern rather than being dismantled or abandoned?
    7. How much money will be put into the NZ economy compared with the profits that go overseas?

    The CoC will not ask these questions. They have a "show me the money" mentality. Boom and bust. If you asked this government: "would you rather take two bags of gold right now, or half a bag of gold per year for the next ten years you know which one they would take.

    That is the kind of investment that this CoC will be interested in, one that makes fortunes for a short time and then just as quickly crumbles into dust or one that starts demanding subsidies, cheap energy or tax loopholes as a condition for staying.

  2. Hunter Thompson II 2
    25 February 2025 at 4:30 pm

    " … the Government believes that foreign investment is generally beneficial."

    So instead of citing solid evidence about the benefits of foreign investment, all we get is an unsubstantiated allegation. Some nice weasel words there. No need to inquire about the disadvantages of foreign investment; they can be swept under the carpet.

    It all sounds like a return to the days when anything sent to the OIC, even last year's rates bill, would be returned to sender marked "approved".

  4. PsyclingLeft.Always 4
    26 February 2025 at 7:58 am

    Anyone who thinks this is an ACT Party push is sorely mistaken.

    NAct1 are absolutely united in this. As others have said, they, like most of their cronies/supporters, see little if any Value in the things that make our NZ precious. Environment, Culture, Independence,Society, et al. Our Country .These are beyond price….

    And the oxymoron that is NZ First. Just a lie. Some still hold out for a Winston Peters save. Not going to happen. Winston is Winston First. Esp tied to maga trump fan, Shane "drill baby drill" Jones.

    Before I read your article, I read the header…and was thinking "fire sale"

    And there you said it..

    And the fire sale of our assets is open.

    I sincerely hope that the damage to Our Country from the NAct1 coalition can be remediated. It could take many years…..