Decision on Foreign Land Register: Plain Balderdash
Wednesday, 7 September 2016, 2:43 pm
Press Release: New Zealand First Party
DECISION ON FOREIGN LAND REGISTER: PLAIN BALDERDASH
Attorney-General behaving like officious nerd
The New Zealand First Leader has labelled the Attorney-General’s finding that a register of land owned by foreigners would be a breach of the Bill of Rights as “plain balderdash”.
“This opinion from the Attorney-General stands in stark contrast to Australia where there is such a register, while in other countries they are well aware of who owns what and where, with the laws to find out,” the Northland MP, Rt Hon Winston Peters, said.
“Does it mean that all other countries that have restrictions on foreign ownership and the laws to identify them are somehow breaching basic human rights? Of course, not.
Only a “plutocractic officious nerd” would come to such inelegant conclusions, Mr Peters said.
“Apparently the Attorney-General thinks that having such legislation would breach the privacy of foreign buyers.
“Privacy is of course what money launderers and investors trying to evade their own country’s jurisdiction love the most, and the Attorney-General seems to be right up their alley.
“If this is a privacy issue then does it mean we can’t charge foreign visitors for a medical bill when they attend one of our hospitals, or a foreign student when they attend one of our educational institutions?”
The Attorney-General would be wise to stop “forlornly posing as a modern Blackstone of the Antipodes” and settle for plain common sense rulings, Mr Peters said.
ENDS
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