More land sold to foreigners under Labour

Land Information Minister Maurice Williamson says that Labour leader Phil Goff is being duplicitous in his criticism of the Government’s announced changes to the rules around land sales to overseas buyers.

“When Labour was in office during the years 2000 to 2008 the figures show that more than 650,000 hectares of land was sold to foreign ownership.”

The number of consents granted to foreign investors under the last Labour Government dwarfs the number granted by National. From 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2008 there were 1431 applications granted.

In 2000 Labour granted 110,509 hectares of land sold to foreign ownership with 201 applications approved.

The figure peaked in 2006 when 383,653 hectares of land was sold to foreign ownership with 125 applications approved.

Under National, just 22,450 hectares was sold in 2009, the Government’s first full year in office, and just 8,599 hectares have been sold in the year to August.

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