'Fence off NZ from foreign speculators,' Winston says as disputed Motukuwaiti Island goes on market for NZ$30 mln; Your view?

By Bernard Hickey

With 74 days left until the September 20 election, here's my daily round-up of the political and governmental news from in and around Wellington on Tuesday, July 8, including the latest from Winston Peters on the sale of Motukuwaiti Island near KeriKeri.

Radio New Zealand reported the mortgagee owner of the Island, Jun Zhang, had put the island up for sale for NZ$30 million, despite the Overseas Investment Office having yet to complete a four year investigation into whether it was legally bought in the first place.

The Island, which is 30 km north of KeriKeri, was sold to St Morris NZ Ltd, owned by Wenning Han, in August 2010. It was then repossessed by Jun Zhang last year after he put St Morris into liquidation, claiming it owed him NZ$16 million. The OIO has confirmed it has not completed its initial investigation into the original sale.

New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters said the sale highlighted the need to "fence off New Zealand from foreign speculators" and showed the Government's "cavalier attitude towards a free-for-all in land sales to foreigners."

“Why has the OIO not been held to account for its tardiness around the ‘sale’, or its failure to use all its powers to ensure that New Zealand law is complied with?," Peters asked.

“The OIO excuse that it is separate from the land transfers unit, even though they are both part of Land Information New Zealand, shows that complaints about the rubber stamp nature of the office are valid," he said.

“The island has one certificate of title which surely means that if the OIO request for information from the original buyers was in any way diligent or efficient the matter should have been determined years ago. A first year law office clerk could have resolved this in a matter of a few months. Why would it have taken two people in the OIO 48 months to not get to the truth," he said, adding the OIO, Land Information NZ and its minister were showing contempt for the public interest.

“Speculation is causing land price inflation, ruining the chance of land ownership for New Zealanders. Recent land sales approvals by the OIO list land purchases from people who intend to become resident, who intend to migrate to NZ and who intend to start a bed and breakfast. None of these benefit New Zealand."

'Raise student benefit'

Meanwhile, United Future Leader Peter Dunne said he supported calls from the New Zealand Union of Students' Associations to increase the NZ$40/week cap on student accommodation benefit, which had not changed since 2001.

"We need to ensure there is an appropriate level of fairness and equity. For those studying in our larger centres where rent is significantly higher the current arrangement is unfair," Dunne said, adding students currently received the same support regardless of where they were studying.

He said UnitedFuture would also seek a review of the student allowance's independence threshold currently set at 24.

"Tertiary students are the next generation of our workforce and we need to make sure that we recognised that and support students appropriately," he said.

I'll keep updating this through the day.

See all my previous election diaries here.

See the index for Interest.co.nz's special election policy comparison pages here.

(Updated with Dunne's policy on student benefits)