Have Your Say On Proposed Changes To The Overseas Investment Act
The bill proposes a range of amendments to the Overseas Investment Act, including to:
change the purpose statement of the Act
consolidate the national interest, benefit to New Zealand, and investor tests into a single test
require the regulator to grant consent within 15 working days unless there are reasonable grounds to consider that a risk to national interest exists
create a new regulation-making power enabling regulations to specify new classes of screened transactions that must undergo a national interest assessment.
Tell the Finance and Expenditure Committee what you think:
Make a submission on the bill by 11.59pm on Wednesday, 23 July 2025.
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Scoop
10 hours ago
- Scoop
Council Must Back Down On Cape Palliser Road Closure Plan
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The Spinoff
a day ago
- The Spinoff
‘How do I not get rage-baited?' Meet the under-25s vying for council seats
They're young, full of ambition and just want to make sure their mates stop leaving the country. The competitive world of local politics, where greying heads and people named John dominate, is not a domain younger New Zealanders have traditionally gravitated towards. While this is changing – the number of under-40s voted in at the last last local elections in 2022 had doubled since 2016 – the median age was still 55, and only around 6% of members were aged 18-30. Looking to further increase that percentage when the country heads to the polls in October, these young candidates are hoping another youthquake could be possible in local government. Born on a leap day in the year 2000, 25-year-old Wellingtonian Sam O'Brien may have only had six real birthdays, but he reckons he's got enough life experience to represent the Motukairangi/Eastern Ward on Wellington City Council. Running on the Labour ticket, O'Brien is the second-youngest candidate in his race after the Act Local-backed 21-year-old Luke Kuggeleijn. Though their political stances are poles apart, they're both driven by the same motivation: to prove the youth voice can speak for all New Zealanders. It's a rainy day in Kuggeleijn's home suburb of Lyall Bay – Motukairangi/Eastern Ward stretches eastwards from Roseneath, Kilbirnie, Hataitai and Lyall Bay to cover the Miramar Peninsula that juts out into the mouth of Wellington Harbour – when we meet for a coffee at Maranui Cafe, just a stone's throw from the Surf Life Saving Club where he works. A postgraduate medical technology student and athlete, Kuggeleijn told The Spinoff he decided to throw his hat in the ring after seeing the party he voted for at the last election move into the world of local government – he figured the support that Act could offer would make it easier for a first-time candidate at his age to 'have the confidence to stand'. Also, it's pretty handy to have some mentors around who can answer the hard questions, like 'how do I not get rage-baited?' Running in a Green/Labour stronghold city, Kuggeleijn reckons his chances of winning one of the three ward councillor spots are slim (and the Eastern Ward race in particular is pretty stacked, with mayoral candidates Alex Baker, Rob Goulden and Karl Tiefenbacher also running), but he says it's still worth it if it encourages other young people to get into local politics. 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NZ Herald
3 days ago
- NZ Herald
Auckland Council hires private investigator to track homeowner, forced sale looms over $220k rates bill
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'New information about the property's appropriate legal categorisation then emerged, which halted court proceedings while the council worked through associated legal details.' In 2021, the council applied to the District Court to sell the property as abandoned land. The property is down a private driveway and part of a block of flats. The owner last made a full rates payment in 2005. Photo / Google But, after posting a public notice in January 2023, the council received correspondence from a person purporting to be Choi Wu, which prevented the land from being treated as abandoned. The council is now calling for anyone who knows Wu or immediate family members to make contact 'to help resolve this matter and establish a solution'. If the sale went ahead, Tucker said the proceeds would be used to recover the full amount of outstanding rates, penalties and associated costs, including real estate agency and legal fees. The remainder of the proceeds would be released to the owner or held in trust until claimed. Tucker said anyone concerned about paying their rates was encouraged to get in touch to discuss assistance options. These included a government-funded rates rebate scheme, a rates postponement scheme for residential properties, and flexible payment options. Forced sale abandoned last year after discovery that owner had died Auckland Council was unable to contact the owners of this house in Guthrey Place, Ōtara, to arrange payment of outstanding rates and penalties totalling more than $300,000. Photo / Jason Oxenham In August last year, an imminent forced sale of a home in Ōtara was abandoned at the 11th hour after council officials learned the owner was dead. The Guthrey Pl house was set to be sold over an unpaid rates bill of $317,000. At the time, it was the city's longest outstanding rates bill. No payments had been made since March 2005. The council had tried for years to contact the owner and arrange repayment, without success. However, after coverage in the Herald, the court-ordered auction was abandoned when relatives of the property's owner, Joseph William Leef, contacted council officials to tell them Leef was dead. The only successful compulsory ratings sale in the supercity occurred in 2015. Charlotte Hareta Marsh lost her home of 20 years in a court-ordered sale after failing to pay rates for nine years. Charlotte Marsh at her former home in Manurewa before it was forcibly sold by Auckland Council. She had refused to pay rates arrears of more than $12,000. Photo / Dean Purcell Despite repeated warnings, she refused to recognise the authority of Auckland Council and claimed to have paid her rates instead to the 'rightful land owner', Arikinui o Tuhoe, a self-proclaimed sovereign authority. At the time of the sale, Marsh owed more than $12,000 in rates and penalties, and nearly $3000 in court costs. The late activist Penny Bright's 11-year refusal to pay rates nearly cost her her Kingsland home in the months before her death. Bright had disputed and refused to pay her rates, citing 'the lack of transparency in council spending on private-sector consultants and contractors'. The council went to court to have Bright's home forcibly sold to recoup tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid rates and penalties, and it was listed for sale in April 2017. But in May that year, a deal was struck after Bright applied for a rates postponement, which was accepted by the council. The forced sale proceedings were halted. Lane Nichols is Auckland desk editor for the New Zealand Herald, with more than 20 years' experience in the industry. Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
