In 2011, Red Alert has done a few new things. One of them is to introduce you to some new Labour candidates who will do the occasional guest post.
This gives them the opportunity to put forward some ideas and you the opportunity to get a sense of who they are before the upcoming election.
Today’s guest poster is Julian Blanchard, the Labour party candidate for Rangitata in 2011.
One of things that most political parties have consensus on is that we need to export more to help our economy.
The region where I am candidate is based around agriculture products and there is potential here to do more. We have an underutilized port in Timaru and the ability to have sensible environmentally sound water storage solutions in Mid Canterbury.
Currently agriculture makes up two thirds of New Zealand’s exports so why is the National Government (the so-called party for farmers) selling the land from under us?
During the first five months of 2011, the Overseas Investment Office approved 49 deals amounting to 30,724 ha of land that are now foreign owned. Only three offers during the last 12 months have been turned down. One for the Crafar farms and the other two amounting to only 35ha of land. The National Government has said it would tighten controls, but the reverse has happened.
If we don’t own our land how can we make money from it?
For the region of Mid and South Canterbury the family farm is beginning to be a thing of the past. Corporate farms owned offshore are now common place. Timaru and Ashburton are rural towns that have done well when local farmer spend money locally. Now that money is drying up the region will begin to feel the strain.
I am pleased to see Labour will act immediately and reverse the current approach. Labour would restrict foreigners from buying more than 5ha of farmland. While we need investment here, we need also to see the manufacturing of the good to be here as well. That will create jobs for regions like Rangitata and keep our rural towns alive.
Since 2009 Julian was the Manager of the Konica Minolta Timaru and previously had his own business for nine years supplying Panasonic Business Products across New Zealand. Julian also works part time for the Port FM Music Network hosting music and sports shows on the network across the central South Island.
Julian is married to Julie Cloake and together they have a six year old son Archie.
Hi Julian, how many hectares of farm land were sold to foreign investors in the three years prior to this Government? A comparison would be useful.
Julian
Regardless of whos name is on the farm title, they still buy their fertilizer here, they still buy their chemicals here, they still pay their staff here, they still buy their tractors here.
The only difference being they can take their profits overseas if they wish.
New Zealanders hold $160 bn of overseas investments , are you proposing no foreign investment in New Zealand and correspondingly , no New Zealand investments in other countries assets .?
Hi Julian
You’re damn right, we need our land!
!
Foreignization of NZ land has been going on for more than the last three years. Labour did little to prevent large areas of coastline such as Young Nick’s Head, Cape Kidnappers and White Rock from foreign purchase and being turned into private play yards for rich city yuppies. Much better policy but should have happened much earlier
Yes we need to export more. That is self evident. What is not evident is how labour are going to set about achieving that. For example, exporting more commodities (milk, meat, …) will do us too little good as a nation. Some different thinking is required and Labour are not displaying that at all.
It is symptomatic of the Labour Party at the moment that you are long on rhetoric and short on actionables. How much more do we need to export? What products? To where? What is the “current approach” that you are going to reverse – your article is not clear on that – and how will you do that?
Land ownership is not the real issue. Many businesses operate successfully without owning the land or buildings the business is located on. In rural New Zealand, our farms are increasingly going into corporate farm ownership where the focus is on earnings and profits. Whether the corporate owner is NZ owned or off-shore owned matters not.
The green integrity of the products off the farm is what matters. China does not want our land necessarily. What they want is our reputation and it is that that is at risk when other countries seek to buy our farms and market the produce off them.
I get no sense of who you are from this article.
Nor do I see that you have any idea of how to improve the prosperity of each and everyone of us. In the end, increasing the prosperity of us as individuals has to be what political representation is about. National are focused on improving the prosperity of corporates with an expectation that individuals will get a flow-on lift and so making us dependent on businesses. Labour are focused on hand-outs and so making us dependent on the state.
Oh great this is going to work…not
Take out the foreign buyers will crash the price of land which long term might be useful except the present owners will be broke with no where to go
That will not lift exports but drastically drop them
Hint: Farmers have to borrow against their land value to have enough money to finance their day-to-day costs
That’s probably because most political parties (and economists for that matter) are economically illiterate. Exporting more makes us poorer as we would soon run out of the resources that we have.
I’ll assume the missing word in that sentence is “foreign” which we don’t need at all. NZ already has the resources necessary to both successful and “rich”. Unfortunately, the really stupid politicians and economists insist that we need money (which is not a resource) borrowed from other people to “invest” whereas what we really need is a rational approach to utilising the resources that we have in a sustainable way for the good of NZ. This cannot be done through a market system.
No, they want our land so that they can feed their people. If we sell our land as farms to China we will see no benefit from doing so as the food produced will just be shipped straight to China. With our seasonal worker laws chances are that the farmers won’t even be NZers.
Jan 06 to Dec 08, 300 consents were given for foriegn investment in land totalling 414,050 ha.
Given that Labour had nine years in Government, I would have thought that they would have sorted this out if they had an issue?
It seems odd that I should have to point this out to Mr Blanchard, but the Government is not selling any land, it is the owner of that land that is doing the selling. And why pick on farmland? There is plenty of freehold land that is being sold that is not farmland. The OIO is working exactly the same as it was under Labour.
@John Allen, this post is not meant to be about me. It is about how this region where I am the candidate needs to have control over our land if we are to export more. It does tell you that I passionate about farming and agriculture and see it as an important component to create jobs and wealth.
It is true that China cannot feed it’s people (>1.34Bn) on it’s available arable land (140 million hectares). That is a ratio of around 9 people/ha and compares to NZ at around 0.34 people/ha of arable land. China, at just under 20% of the world’s population and around 10% of the world’s arable land, is the world’s leader in farm output and now “in most years, manages to feed its population” [Wikipedia] except for grains, which it imports in bulk.
New Zealand’s dairy land, at around 2 million ha, is small in comparison to their needs and given the lactose intolerance of much of the population, cannot be desired mainly for its ability to feed the Chinese people with dairy products. To them, our dairy production is a niche but growing product with a high value. But they have a problem with food safety, hence their interest in our country.
I seem to remember one Helen Clarke hiking with a Canadian singer, as she showed the then PM her many hectares of high country land.
Yet when an Asian business person tries to invest in New
Zealand land and actually turn a pretty picture into something profitable and meaningful, it’s treacherous.
Opportunist populism or outright xenophobia?
Either or, ‘that don’t impress me much!’
Julian, the post was “…to introduce you to some new Labour candidates…”, so it is about you.
The post does not develop the argument as to why we need to have control over our land (but I absolutely agree with that principle) nor how Labour would achieve that so that jobs and wealth are created (which is what I really would like to know). Instead you are taking potshots at National.
Give us substantive policy and new ideas on which to base an opinion on, not rhetoric.
John Allen Thanks for your comments. it’s great that there’s some vigorous interest in debating these issues.
This is Julian’s first post. He quite capable of defending himself but he is not our rural affairs spokesperson, nor our economic development or finance spokesperson. So give him a break.
Labour has clear policy around our determination not sell our assets:
“Labour will stop the sale of state owned enterprises. We will prevent the indiscriminate sale of farmland of more than 5ha.”
We will be providing more policy around these matters.
Hint: Farmers have to borrow against their land value to have enough money to finance their day-to-day costs
@ Raymon
If that is the model then the farming sector is completely unsustainable.
No other business does this other than speculators.
If this is the case then all the more reason for land prices to take a dive and let the banks take a haircut.
Clare, reiterating a stance on publicly owned assets is not what this thread appears to be about – the individual farmers own the land, not the Government, and get to choose who they sell it to with input from OIO. They are not “our assets”. Unless of course you are proposing to nationalise farm land?
Hello again Clare,
SO I should give Julian a break? I thought I was doing that by being specific about what I want to know and don’t want to see (taking potshots at the other parties (because you are not ready to debate issues?)). So thank you for being somewhat specific in your defense of Julian to whom I unreservedly apologize.
How many weeks is it to the election now? And you are still “providing more policy around these matters”?
How is your rural broadband policy looking – I have seen no sight of it yet. How about a policy that says the digital dividend spectrum be reserved for fixed rural broadband use?
@ John Allen.
I can tell you now that you are not likely to get any kind of specificity. You probably have already figured out this is about dog whistle politics and rhetoric rather than well thought out policy.
If I owned land, which I don’t, I’d like to sell it for the best possible price.
Clare you say Labour policy is not to allow the indiscriminate sale of farmland of more than 5ha.
What does indiscriminate mean in terms of your policy.
do you have a definition
This is just playing to voter xenophobia. Leave that to Winston. I expect better from Labour.
Fear of foreign ownership is entirely irrational. Show me the evidence that we are worse off because of foreign direct investment.
NZ needs more investment. Currently the best source of investment is foreign. Rather than scaremongering about an asian takeover and banning foreign investment, Labour should ask why there is a lack of domestic investment.
i find it a little unbelievable that it still doesn’t compute that if large portions of new zealands productive land is owned by a corporation on the other side of the world, then that is correspondingly less “profit” to circulate back through the domestic economy…. just for starters…. then, of course, there is the “small” issue of the loss of control over determining the best use of existing resources on that land, be it agriculture, or productive enterprise…which is really only the tip of the iceberg when the issue of long term consequences is examined with a sense of balance….
no amount of “self evident” argument, or party political attack lines will convince me that i should be “comfortable” with my grandchildren reduced to modern day serfdom because our generation couldn’t see past it’s own nose….
you’re supposed to be grownups!!! start acting like it!
@bbfloyd, “grownups” eh? The other day I was harangued by a young chap, in desperate need of a shower and some toothpaste I might add, passing out Labour leaflets. I declined and told him I don’t vote Labour. His response was “why” – I told him because I was a “grownup”. He then swore at me. “Grownups” indeed.
“in desperate need of a shower and some toothpaste I might add” would that we were all as mature as Dave!
Exactly how would labour feel if it “won” on the no foreign ownership, which meant Mr Fay (pretend farmer) got a bargain investment (again)???
Good debates on here. Nice to see. I can tell you from being at farm days and talking to farmers, that this policy is making people talk. It is new and should have been done a long time ago. If the ownership goes off shore we have less controls on what gets produced. High value goods made from kiwi owned farms / businesses employing New Zealanders is the way forward for agriculture.
…someone asked me, why I have’t replied much today. Might have something to do with getting any reliable internet access outside the main streets of Timaru…rural broadband would be nice to see reality rather than talk.
Julian, aren’t the farmers between a rock and ahard place though. If they want to sell their land (and I don’t know what the turnover of farms is versus lifelong holdings) they can’t get the decent prices onshore, but the other scenario is also not nice?
Wrong question. What should be asked is if you should be allowed to own land in the first place which, as land can’t be removed from the commons, you shouldn’t be able to.
” What should be asked is if you should be allowed to own land in the first place which, as land can’t be removed from the commons, you shouldn’t be able to.”
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the lunatic left for all to see. Draco not only wants to make having more than an extra dollar illegal, he wants your land as well. Apparently it already belongs to him. Is this Labour policy ?
Dave can you explain what made you vote and support Labour when you did? I understand you don’t anymore, and there was a last straw and so forth, I’m just interested in what aspects appealed to you in the past and how National is upholding those now? TIA
Interesting to hear the MOF admit today that increased company profitability in NZ sees more money go offshore, again he emphasised the need to save, while being single-handedly responsible for de-incentivising the major saving tool available to NZers.
Nicely put Dave. Tracey, on profits being taken off shore: exactly how does this work? If a US company buys land (or a business) and takes its profits back to the US (assuming falsely, that none would be reinvested in this country), they are in NZD. Surely all NZD must at some point, come back to NZ (via the purchase of goods and services, tourism etc) since they are worthless to a US company in the US.
What major saving tool are you alluding to?
Sure Tracey glad to assist. Current Labour = Tax on success, enabling behaviour to make people dependent on welfare, education changes that mean mediocrity is ‘ok’ to strive for, excuses for violent criminals, pandering to Gangs who prey on the innocent but are excused because of their ‘upbringing’, saying poor parenting is society’s problem not the parents themselves, blaming agriculture ( major export earner and employer) for ecological problems instead of assisting them to address these needs, despising success from ‘rich pricks’ like police, doctors, teachers. Ex-Union hacks becoming an ‘MP’s for one of them to then abuse one of the most philanthropic self-made people New Zealand has ever known for not agreeing with her choice of Prime Minister, then trying to justify it before ‘apologising’. National = none of these things. I want a society where my kids can strive to be the very best they can, to bring up their families in a way that adds to New Zealand society, not detract or lower its collective EQ and IQ. Whee a Government helps not hinders our growth as a society, where income differences should be a call to education, not a call to ‘redistribute’ the shrinking pie through punitive envy taxes. Excuses no longer cut it. If you want more – earn it. Also when I voted Labour I was very young, so my previous statement as to why I now vote National (I’m now a grown up) still stands. As you grow older you want different things that reflect your changing circumstances, Children, house etc. Labour no longer represents the values that my family have. I am a minority that Labour no longer seems interested in; White male University educated professional, married, owns house, children. Although my wife (and children) are Maori, so they may pay my family some lip service there when it suits. Labour in the 1980′s were a far better prospect than now, but those Labour MP’s who are still in Parliament from those days seem embarrassed by the memory. I would be proud.
Also back to my other posting regarding the shabby young man who tried to convince me that his was the way of life i should pursue; “mature” adults do indeed shower and look after their teeth or is that something that the left believe is society’s responsibility as well? He was trying to sell me ideas, but the plume of odour and his brown teeth detracted from the message. Imagine any salesperson try to sell you something and turning up like that. Would you not be put off immediately?
@Dave
Stop putting words in my mouth. I quite clearly said that the land belongs belongs to society as it cannot be removed from the commons.
An example of this is the dirty, filthy farming that is presently destroying our rivers and lakes. The excuse from those farmers is that the land belongs to them and so they can do what they like no matter how it negatively affects everyone else. The only way to bring those filthy farmers into line is to maintain control of the land and what can be done on it in the hands of the community at which point there’s no way that it can be said that the land belongs to the farmers.
Oh, and that last post of yours – Pure delusion. none of it was based in reality.
Dave – I agree with everything you say,a great post that sums up Labours problems.
I have one query -
I don’t wish to pry but unless you adopted your children surely they are part Maori or part European (or whatever ethnic mix you and your wife represent)
Dave – great post which I’m sure strikes a chord with a good many people.
Draco, as you do at the Standard, you propose Communism. A system based on theory that has been proven to not work. Having grown up in a farming community, and still having many farmer friends, these people do have a conscience regarding the negative effect of their farming on the environment and for you to say otherwise just shows how out of touch you are.
Without wanting to be rude, are you by chance, a vegan?
@Draco – my reality is my observation and my experience, yours on a benefit may be different, I don’t know.
You clearly said ‘you shouldn’t be “allowed to” (own land). If the individual can’t own the land they worked hard to pay for – who should? Did you not mean what you said?
You exhibit all that is wrong with left wing politics, excuses and a tendency for mediocrity. Sideline commentary like yours doesn’t change anything, being elected does. I’m sure the Labour Party would agree with me. So why don’t you put your own unique ‘brand’ of politics in front of the public and see how far you get? Test your theories using democracy and ‘man up’. Although the left love touting ‘democracy’ they often don’t like the results it brings.
Actually, it’s a system that’s never been tried. None of the so called communist countries of the last century were communist – they were, and are, state capitalist.
People shouldn’t be able to buy the land. It should remain in the “ownership” of the state. Not that hard to understand is it?
“Tracey, on profits being taken off shore: exactly how does this work? If a US company buys land (or a business) and takes its profits back to the US (assuming falsely, that none would be reinvested in this country), they are in NZD. Surely all NZD must at some point, come back to NZ (via the purchase of goods and services, tourism etc) since they are worthless to a US company in the US.”
You need to ask Mr English, he is the one who made the statement (which I referred to in my post when repeating HIS statement) and made it as a negative not positive outcome
Thanks Dave I suspected your affinity with Labour possibly related to the 1980′s. I appreciate your candor.
It seems “rich prick” wasn’t really your last straw merely confirmation of which party represented your world view?
As for your now being grown up, labelling anyone in the cnetre or left that you don’t agree with as being “lunatic” would make a lie of that
– almost sounds hysterical
Dave, here’s the crux of what I am getting at over the rating agencies. I am basing it on actual words used by our leader and PM. The man ultimately in charge of our direction and the state of things in Aotearoa.
-The Pm, earlier this year pointed to Standard and Poor’s rating (or non change of it) as an endorsement of the government’s budget and handling of the economy. Do you accept that if that logic is applied consistently they have just criticized the governments handling of the economy since then? has S & P deteriorated so much since the budget that their opinion can now be dismissed?
We can discuss whether Labour believe in S & P and their ratings or not after that, afterall they are in Opposition and will be from November this year so let’s keep the focus on those who will actually shape the futures you and I want for our children, and their logic, rationale, whatever you want to call it. Just for a few moments.
Some of our most outstanding leaders have come from the Labour Party which rather belies that Labour = mediocrity. We’ve (NZers not just labour NZers) punched above our weight in all kinds of way sin NZ, and produced some very respected world leaders.
@Draco – “People shouldn’t be able to buy the land. It should remain in the “ownership” of the state.” Is that so? So you want people to pay rent then? Fair enough. All I can conclude is that your lack of ambition for the citizens of this country is appalling and terribly sad. Next you’ll be wanting everyone to wear state sanctioned clothing (Mao suits I believe they’re called) I wonder if State ownership of EVERYTHING is Labour Policy or even Mana policy? If so they are being very quiet about it. This is totalitarianism and it has been repeatedly rejected by every successful country in the world, did you miss that?
To quote Josef Stalin “Without landowners, without kulaks the people are in charge. That is what we call socialism in everyday life”.
Down with the Kulaks. Bring back the law of skikelets eh comrade Draco.