Our 2011 election manifesto - Labour Party

intellectual expertise by allowing New Zealanders to be outbid by foreign buyers. We cannot
lose control of our best income producing assets.
No overseas person has the right to buy our land - it's a privilege.
Labour will reverse the current approach to overseas sales of land. The onus will be
on potential foreign purchasers to prove they offer additional value to the country
from the land transfer. These rules will apply to sales of rural land over 5 hectares.
Sales will be declined unless the overseas purchaser of farm or forestry land will also invest
in significant further processing of related primary products and related jobs that would not
otherwise occur.
Labour will also introduce a general ministerial discretion covering all assets worth
more than $100 million that are not covered by our new farm land or monopoly
infrastructure rules, modelled on the Australian equivalent.
Labour was careful to ensure that New Zealand retained the right to control foreign land
acquisition under the Free-Trade Agreement we signed with China. While the agreement
covers management and sale of investments, it does not cover the purchase of investments.
This is an important distinction as it allows New Zealand flexibility to retain sovereignty over
its own resources. This should continue to be the model for future agreements.
Exchange rates
Agriculture has been a major export earner for New Zealand ever since the advent of
refrigerated shipping in 1882. Much has changed since then but agricultural exports remain
our economic lifeline with 95% of all our farm produce heading overseas to garner over $20
billion a year.
Agricultural exporters enjoyed good returns from 1999 till 2008, with the total value of
exports almost doubling. However, since the 2008 financial crisis, exporters have been
struggling with a New Zealand dollar that has both been high and unstable. Projections of
steadily rising commodity prices are undermined by the fluctuating and high value of the
traded NZ dollar.
Many farmers have seen much of all their forecast profits in the last year eaten up by a
strong NZ dollar exchange rate which increased from 56 cents to the US dollar in 2009 to 87
cents in 2011. Farmers already competing against low cost producers in developing regions
such as South America and China are undermined by New Zealand‟s current monetary
policy.
Labour will reform monetary policy to ensure our exporters are not undermined by
extreme exchange fluctuations, including by broadening the objectives of the
Reserve Bank Act. Currently its sole focus is on the maintenance of price stability –
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