The coalition's confident allowing certain wealthy foreign buyers to buy a home won't drive up house prices.
It's agreed to pass changes, allowing people on an Active Investor Plus visa to buy or build one home in New Zealand - worth a minimum of $5 million.
The visa requires an additional investment of at least $5 million, on top of the price of the home.
Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper says these changes make sense for investors.
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
There are so per senior political correspondents with US Now.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Hello Barres, good afternoon, heado.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Right, rich investors are going to be allowed to buy
houses finally.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Well they are. The law won't be passed until the
end of the years, so we're still a little way off. Nevertheless,
there has been a commitment that that will happen. You've
got to have either five million bucks to buy a
five million dollar house or ten million dollars for a
different category of visa that you can have a mixed
investment over a number of areas. Interestingly, I had a
(00:30):
bit of a chuck on myself as well about Winston
Peters posting on x sounds like Donald Trump, which is
where we get all the information about what he's thinking.
But Winston Peters, he said, the foreign buyers ban remains well,
it does to an extent. He said that the governments
(00:52):
ensured tight restrictions around the policy, excluding the sale of
rural farm and sensitive land. But it does mean and
if you are an investor, and to me it makes
absolute sense. You come to the country and if you're
planning to live here and you're putting money into the country,
of course you want to buy a house here the
Immigration min Ister Erica Stanford, who was standing beside Chris
(01:14):
Luxon when the announcement was made. She said the investor
visas they had hoped that they would get two hundred
in the first year. Well in the first five months
of the year they got three hundred, which is pretty remarkable.
It shows that New Zealand is seen as a pretty
good destination. And I've got to say she whacks lyrical
about what they bring to this country.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
If you allow people to buy a home, they spend
more time here and you can speak to the people
in the room who are evidence of that. And when
they are here more they invest in their local communities.
And I'll tell you the other thing about them, they
are an amazing philanthropist in their local communities. So when
you are thinking about economic growth and tagging that into
our local communities, these are amazing people with great connections
(01:57):
and they get a huge passion for New Zealand and
their value was exponential.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
So there were people in the room that clearly fall
into the category that she was talking about. So hopefully
we'll hear some stories out of them following this today.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Okay, so what's your take on Neil Quigley's resignation.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Well, look, I feel for Neil Quiggley. You know, I've
met the man on a number of occasions, a very
honorable sort of a fellow. And don't forget he's the
one that's behind the medical school at Waikata University, where
is the vice chancellor. But the fact is when Adrian Or,
when they got into the stash, Adrian Or was clearly
a very difficult man to deal with, and when they
(02:35):
came to an agreement that he would go, they in
fact were sworn to secrecy disclosure agreement. They had both
had non disclosure agreements and the fact of the matter
is that neither the Finance Minister nor Treasury were bound
by those agreements, so they could say a lot more.
(02:56):
All Quigley said was that he based made a personal
decision to go. And in the end, if you want
to be pedantic about it, you could say that Adrian Or,
even though he threw a tanti threw his cots toys
out of the cot, it was a personal decision, like
any resignation is. So you know, you can argue that,
But then Labor has been criticizing the whole issue, and
(03:21):
don't forget it was Labor that reappointed Adrian Or to
the job against a political a lot of political opposition
to it from the government that came in a year
later and from others as well, but nevertheless he was
reappointed to the job. The Prime Minister said this morning
that a new governor will be appointed within weeks. This afternoon,
(03:44):
he said he's not worried about the bank stability, despite
what Labour's been saying.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
I don't take any lectures from the Labor Party on economics.
I don't think they really have a great literacy in
the space, having been the people that actually put us
in this very difficult situation that all his Islanders are experiencing.
So know what I'd say to you is we've got
a very stronger experienced management team. We've got a very
stronger experience bought and they are quite capable of fully
discharging their obligations as a reserve bank. And so I've
(04:09):
got every confidence on them. You know, having come from
an outside world, it's not uncommon that you change chair
and see are at the same time.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I think it's quite uncommon.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
But nevertheless, so I just want to clarify, So are
you arguing that Neil Quigley is hard done by here, I.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Am actually, you know, I think he is quite hard
done by. I don't know. I can see you smirking there.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Well, I am smirking so hard at you right now.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Yeah, okay, Well, look, I think he was hard done
by because if you, if you signed to sign up
to a confidentiality agreement, you don't then go and spill
the beans outside of that because by law you can't
do it anyway. And I thought he was caught between
a rock and a hope.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Can I give you an alternative view on it?
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Of course? Right?
Speaker 1 (04:48):
So, first of all, if you just because you sign
an NDA doesn't mean that you need to go tell
Fibbs and public. Right, So he said, personal decisions or
use sophistry, which is which is the you of language
intended to mislead people to believe one thing when it's
actually another thing, which is what he did. So you
don't have to tell Phibbs because you signed an NDA.
(05:08):
You can simply say I cannot talk about this for
legal reasons.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Well is he could have clarified that.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Okay, So the first problem is telling phibbies. The second
problem then is that clearly the NDA did not preclude
them from telling us what actually happened. That Adrian Or
stepped down, and that Adrian Or was replaced by Christian
Hawksby and that he was out of the office for
five days and blah blah blah. They could do that
because the ombardsmen ordered them to do that, and they
did that, So why didn't it? So my interpretation of
it is that they were they used the NDA as
(05:36):
cover for just not telling us the true.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Well, you know who knows? I mean, you know I
I think if you sign up to a confidentiality agreement,
you've got to abide by it.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Okay, Barry, thank you, But why are you laughing at one? No,
you haven't won.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
I'm just I just.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
I'm out of time, thank you. And also that's the
end of that, though. I haven't we put that one
to bed, haven't we? Anyway? Very so, Senior Political Correspondence.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to
News Talks it B from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
There are so per senior political correspondents with US Now.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Hello Barres, good afternoon, heado.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Right, rich investors are going to be allowed to buy
houses finally.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Well they are. The law won't be passed until the
end of the years, so we're still a little way off. Nevertheless,
there has been a commitment that that will happen. You've
got to have either five million bucks to buy a
five million dollar house or ten million dollars for a
different category of visa that you can have a mixed
investment over a number of areas. Interestingly, I had a
(00:30):
bit of a chuck on myself as well about Winston
Peters posting on x sounds like Donald Trump, which is
where we get all the information about what he's thinking.
But Winston Peters, he said, the foreign buyers ban remains well,
it does to an extent. He said that the governments
(00:52):
ensured tight restrictions around the policy, excluding the sale of
rural farm and sensitive land. But it does mean and
if you are an investor, and to me it makes
absolute sense. You come to the country and if you're
planning to live here and you're putting money into the country,
of course you want to buy a house here the
Immigration min Ister Erica Stanford, who was standing beside Chris
(01:14):
Luxon when the announcement was made. She said the investor
visas they had hoped that they would get two hundred
in the first year. Well in the first five months
of the year they got three hundred, which is pretty remarkable.
It shows that New Zealand is seen as a pretty
good destination. And I've got to say she whacks lyrical
about what they bring to this country.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
If you allow people to buy a home, they spend
more time here and you can speak to the people
in the room who are evidence of that. And when
they are here more they invest in their local communities.
And I'll tell you the other thing about them, they
are an amazing philanthropist in their local communities. So when
you are thinking about economic growth and tagging that into
our local communities, these are amazing people with great connections
(01:57):
and they get a huge passion for New Zealand and
their value was exponential.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
So there were people in the room that clearly fall
into the category that she was talking about. So hopefully
we'll hear some stories out of them following this today.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Okay, so what's your take on Neil Quigley's resignation.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Well, look, I feel for Neil Quiggley. You know, I've
met the man on a number of occasions, a very
honorable sort of a fellow. And don't forget he's the
one that's behind the medical school at Waikata University, where
is the vice chancellor. But the fact is when Adrian Or,
when they got into the stash, Adrian Or was clearly
a very difficult man to deal with, and when they
(02:35):
came to an agreement that he would go, they in
fact were sworn to secrecy disclosure agreement. They had both
had non disclosure agreements and the fact of the matter
is that neither the Finance Minister nor Treasury were bound
by those agreements, so they could say a lot more.
(02:56):
All Quigley said was that he based made a personal
decision to go. And in the end, if you want
to be pedantic about it, you could say that Adrian Or,
even though he threw a tanti threw his cots toys
out of the cot, it was a personal decision, like
any resignation is. So you know, you can argue that,
But then Labor has been criticizing the whole issue, and
(03:21):
don't forget it was Labor that reappointed Adrian Or to
the job against a political a lot of political opposition
to it from the government that came in a year
later and from others as well, but nevertheless he was
reappointed to the job. The Prime Minister said this morning
that a new governor will be appointed within weeks. This afternoon,
(03:44):
he said he's not worried about the bank stability, despite
what Labour's been saying.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
I don't take any lectures from the Labor Party on economics.
I don't think they really have a great literacy in
the space, having been the people that actually put us
in this very difficult situation that all his Islanders are experiencing.
So know what I'd say to you is we've got
a very stronger experienced management team. We've got a very
stronger experience bought and they are quite capable of fully
discharging their obligations as a reserve bank. And so I've
(04:09):
got every confidence on them. You know, having come from
an outside world, it's not uncommon that you change chair
and see are at the same time.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I think it's quite uncommon.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
But nevertheless, so I just want to clarify, So are
you arguing that Neil Quigley is hard done by here, I.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Am actually, you know, I think he is quite hard
done by. I don't know. I can see you smirking there.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Well, I am smirking so hard at you right now.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Yeah, okay, Well, look, I think he was hard done
by because if you, if you signed to sign up
to a confidentiality agreement, you don't then go and spill
the beans outside of that because by law you can't
do it anyway. And I thought he was caught between
a rock and a hope.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Can I give you an alternative view on it?
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Of course? Right?
Speaker 1 (04:48):
So, first of all, if you just because you sign
an NDA doesn't mean that you need to go tell
Fibbs and public. Right, So he said, personal decisions or
use sophistry, which is which is the you of language
intended to mislead people to believe one thing when it's
actually another thing, which is what he did. So you
don't have to tell Phibbs because you signed an NDA.
(05:08):
You can simply say I cannot talk about this for
legal reasons.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Well is he could have clarified that.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Okay, So the first problem is telling phibbies. The second
problem then is that clearly the NDA did not preclude
them from telling us what actually happened. That Adrian Or
stepped down, and that Adrian Or was replaced by Christian
Hawksby and that he was out of the office for
five days and blah blah blah. They could do that
because the ombardsmen ordered them to do that, and they
did that, So why didn't it? So my interpretation of
it is that they were they used the NDA as
(05:36):
cover for just not telling us the true.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Well, you know who knows? I mean, you know I
I think if you sign up to a confidentiality agreement,
you've got to abide by it.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Okay, Barry, thank you, But why are you laughing at one? No,
you haven't won.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
I'm just I just.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
I'm out of time, thank you. And also that's the
end of that, though. I haven't we put that one
to bed, haven't we? Anyway? Very so, Senior Political Correspondence.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to
News Talks it B from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.