Foreign money flood feared

Press, 16 December 1985, Page 14

Foreign money flood feared

PA Wellington The economic package must not allow the “floodgates” to open to overseas speculators wanting to buy New Zealand farmland, a Labour backbencher has warned. The member for Gisborne, Mr Allan Wallbank, said the statement continued the Government’s economic direction, but it had a number of shortcomings which he intended working to overcome. Mr Wallbank is a farmer and a member of Parliament’s Primary Production Select Committee. As an M.P. who had presented a petition to the

house attempting to preserve New Zealand for future generations, he believed the land belonged to all New Zealanders and he had a “deep concern for the family farm concept.” He intended to ensure that instructions given to the Overseas Investment Commission guaranteed that “the floodgates are not open to overseas speculators”. “I am extremely concerned for those new and young farmers who find themselves in financial difficulty. It is my intention to take every case brought to me by farmers personally to the Ministers concerned,” he said.