Key defends sale of Crafar farms to Shanghai Pengxin
Prime Minister John Key has defended his government's decision to allow China-based Shanghai Pengxin's to buy the troubled Crafar farms.
Mr Key said at a press conference this afternoon that critics, including New Zealand First leader Winston Peters who accused him of "economic treason," had their heads in the sand.
"He [Mr Peters] is in a state of denial. New Zealand has strict legislation where it comes to the sale of farmland," he said.
Associate Minister of Finance Jonathan Coleman and Land Information Minister Maurice Williamson approved the sale for the 16 dairy farms yesterday at 5pm, Mr Key said, and while legislation granted a right of veto it was not utilised. "In our view there was no reason to do that," Mr Key said.
"If government had decided to overrule the decision of the Overseas Investment Office we would have to give reasons - and that reason can't be 'because they're Chinese.'"
Shanghai Pengxin were the highest bidder for the farming group, but a consortium fronted by Sir Michael Fay had submitted a lower offer and lobbied against their rivals.
The OIO approved the Shanghai Pengxin bid despite complaints the firm's founder had ties to the Chinese criminal underworld.
Mr Key said the new owners of the Crafar farms would be an improvement for both the local environment and the dairy cows on site as they had been poorly run.
The Prime Minister downplayed his concerns expressed last year that he feared New Zealanders were becoming "tenants in their own land".
Mr Key said less than 1% of New Zealand farmland was foreign-owned and current OIO regulations - strengthened last year - were working well.
He did not rule out toughening regulations further. "I wouldn't want to see enormous tracts of land sold [offshore] week after week after week after week. Governments always reserve their right to change the law," he said.
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Comments and questions12
Well done John Key
The receivers got the best price for the properties which will be managed by Landcorp and the milk will end up being exported to China after production into milk products in NZ.
The chinese may now own the land but they can't take that too far, so whats the problem.
Great to see John Key starting his second term with strong leadership.
We should be embracing the Chinese - they will be the worlds biggest economy in the next few years and replace the useless Americans who have destroyed their own economy and world domination.
Get over yourselves NZ and embrace these people and their commercial organisations.
Surely we are over the legacy and mystique of communism and don't also banish Mr Dotcom because he is German and because of our connection with the second world war etc etc
It took guts to approve this. Everyone was fighting against it - popular opinion was against it - but for xenophobic reasons. Key and the OIO could have done the easy thing and rejected the application but they stood up and did the right thing even though it was politically unpopular. Well done.
nice one pm key.
I entirely agree - good to see some more logical comments on this website.
It seems like a great transaction for NZ. We get to have one's cake and eat it too through the continued safeguarding of the value-added processing in NZ and further investment that has been promised. Plus the fees going to Landcorp. The OIO / Government should be commended.
I have a major problem with politicians who think they can effectively impinge on personal property rights simply to win a popularity vote. The fact is (rightly or wrongly) this land is not the government's property. If it was, I would be with Mr Peters (for once).
On Mr Fay, I just hope he has to pay the government's court costs once he loses...
Bemused about some comments made by the opponents to the deal. Less than 1% of farmland is in foreign hands and even less than 1% is in Chinese hands. Some comments really sound hollow and hyperbole and are out of touch with the reality.
I suspect the noble knight will slide under the door and off to his tax haven before too long.
Why not lease the land? Land ownership could be a priviledge of NZ citizens as it is in many other countries.We cannot manufacture more land and there will always be someone whether Chinese, Amercan, German with bigger chequebooks wanting to buy land.
Once the land is sold the people of NZ reduce their ability to control what happens.John Key & the government has to recognise this otherwise we will be tenants in our own country with landlords that may decide they want to only use their own citizens (see the ports of Africa) change the use of land (mining perhaps) or resettle citizens (like Japan who previously investigated using NZ as a retirement state for Japan).
I hope the government further tightens the outright sale of land. For me a typical National supporter this may be the reason I would support Labour or the Greens into government if these parties promosed to tighten fuirther.
Well done Maurice Williamson, You have stopped the receivers ripping the farms off and introduced new capital and thinking into rural NZ.
Now let's sell Landcorp.
I find it ironic that the labour party is critical of this sale to the Chinese. Labour was in the press bagging the Crafar's, who are New Zealanders, and seemingly supporting the small minded bureaucrats and aparachniks of the WRC, who had the pronounced aim of ruining that family and driving them out of business. The Crafar's have been ruined and now they are all upset that the farms have been sold ! Perhaps David Shearer will pronounce a policy to nationalize the farms, or better still return it to the hard working Crafar family who developed the farms.
Now EW got rid of the Crafar's how is it going to deal with Chinese ?
WE should have sold it to Micheal Fay (like the BNZ & NZ Rail) so he could then on sell it to foreign interests at a later date hahahaaa what a joke of a counter offer. Well Done the PM
Its not the nationality objected to, it's selling NZ the land that we live in, that supports us, we call home. Why do we need to sell? Is it because we have been so poorly managed by Our current National Govt?
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