Latest news with #Luxon
Scoop
10 hours ago
- Business
- Scoop
NZ First Signals Change To Foreign Buyers Ban Could Be Announced This Year
, Acting Political Editor NZ First leader Winston Peters says he expects an announcement "soon" clearing the way for wealthy foreign investors to buy high-value houses in New Zealand. But he insists the foreign buyers ban - which prevents most foreigners from purchasing existing houses - will remain in place, unchanged. "We're talking about investment. We're changing those rules and what goes with them. You have to be patient - and we'll tell you what the details are," Peters told reporters on Wednesday. "But the Foreign Buyers Act is not changing." During coalition negotiations, NZ First blocked National's proposal to allow foreigners to buy houses worth more than $2 million, contingent on a 15 percent tax. But Peters - who helped introduce the ban in 2018 as part of the Labour NZ First coalition - later said he was open to revisiting the rules "for the right investor". A spokesperson on Wednesday said discussions were ongoing about the appropriate investment threshold but suggested it would be "substantial". "New Zealand First is pursuing consultation on the matter and is looking at the government being able to make an announcement by the end of the year." Any proposed changes would need to create jobs and benefit the wider economy without disrupting the housing market, the spokesperson said. Speaking later at Parliament, Peters told reporters they would not have to wait very long for an announcement. "I'm not the one totally in control of the answer, but I would imagine by the end of 2025," he said. Peters repeatedly stated that "the foreign buyers ban will remain" but said investment rules could be changed to allow those investing "millions of dollars" to buy a house at a certain cost - "and that cost is not $2 million". "We're talking about investors. They're bringing billions to this economy," he said. "They're not buyers." Back in October, Peters told NewstalkZB he would consider changes for the "right person with the right investment" - but it would need to be far more than "a lousy $20 million". Addressing reporters on Wednesday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon confirmed the timeline outlined by Peters but declined to shed any light on the "ongoing coalition negotiations". "When we're ready to talk about it, we will," Luxon said. "You've heard what Winston said... and that's a fair reflection of where things are at." Luxon has previously conceded National set its $2m threshold "too low" and suggested $5m or $6m would be more reasonable. ACT leader and associate finance minister David Seymour - who's responsible for the Overseas Investment Act - told reporters he would support any progress on the issue. "I'd be there with bells on, because I think allowing our friends around the world to come to our country, bring their money and live here is generally - there's exceptions - but generally a win-win for New Zealand." In April, the government made changes to the Active Investor Plus Visa - the so-called 'golden visa' - easing the path for wealthy foreigners to gain residency through investment. Immigration New Zealand last month confirmed it had received nearly 200 applications since the changes were introduced.
NZ Herald
11 hours ago
- Business
- NZ Herald
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon tight-lipped amid speculation of foreign buyers ban change
The Herald understands no proposal has yet been put before Associate Finance Minister David Seymour, who has responsibility for the Overseas Investment Act . But it's unlikely changes to loosen the current ban would face resistance from Seymour, who has been critical of the measure . Luxon on Wednesday said there were 'ongoing conversations' and confirmed to the Herald that he was also working to make an announcement this year. He would not detail what threshold he would like set, but has previously suggested about $5 million, which would be an increase from National's 2023 policy of allowing foreigners to buy houses worth $2m and more and taxing that sale at 15%. 'We've got ongoing conversations as we work together in our coalition in the way that we do, and when we're ready to talk about it, we will,' Luxon said. 'When we come out with an answer, you will hear about it and we'll be very clear about it all. But for right here, right now, we've got ongoing conversations.' He said Peters' comments were a 'fair reflection of where things are at'. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was tight-lipped on Wednesday about policy to allow foreign investors to purchase residential property here. Photo / Mark Mitchell Peters on Wednesday afternoon said the 'Foreign Buyers Act is not changing'. The legislation amended in 2018 to classify residential houses as sensitive, and therefore not open to purchase from overseas people, is the Overseas Investment Act. NZ First said the rules would change for investors bringing millions to New Zealand's economy. 'They're investors, they're not buyers. You're not going to get a house key just by walking into the country in the way that other parties believed,' Peters said. 'If you're investing millions of dollars, seriously, we look at you having the right to back it up with the buying of a house in New Zealand at a certain cost. That cost is not $2m.' NZ First kiboshed National's foreign buyer's tax during the 2023 coalition negotiations and Peters repeated on Wednesday that it was 'fiscally never going to work'. The National-NZ First coalition agreement makes reference to the ban when it says: 'Tax relief will be progressed as set out in National's Tax Plan, but will not include a repeal of the foreign buyer's residential property ban, with income tax reductions coming into force from July 1, 2024.' NZ First leader Winston Peters says the rules will change for investors bringing millions to New Zealand's economy. Photo / Mark Mitchell Seymour told the Herald that if NZ First changed its historical position, 'there wouldn't be any complaints from me'. 'I'd be there with bells on, because I think allowing our friends around the world to come to our country, bring their money, and live here is generally – and there are exceptions – but generally, a win-win for New Zealand.' In an interview with the Herald this week, Peters denied his party was 'softening' its approach. 'The idea that for $2m you could come into this country and get a key and that's your investment was a nonsense,' Peters told the Herald. 'We said so before the election. We also debunked the costings for it, and were joined not long after that by economists who said that New Zealand First was right. 'We're saying if you're coming here with millions of dollars to invest in this country, then yes, you could buy a house, and we're setting the terms for that.' Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. In 2025, he was a finalist for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.
The Spinoff
15 hours ago
- Politics
- The Spinoff
Echo Chamber: Chris Hipkins, you frickin' smart-arse sausage roll eater
The Labour leader has been getting up to his old tricks again (complaining about FamilyBoost and butter). Echo Chamber is The Spinoff's dispatch from the press gallery, recapping sessions in the House. Columns are written by politics reporter Lyric Waiwiri-Smith and Wellington editor Joel MacManus. There was a certain grumpiness in the air on Tuesday – for the government MPs, at least. Maybe it's those wintertime blues or that mid-year slump that seeps in around this time, or maybe it's the news of inflation being at its highest point in the last 12 months (at 2.7%), a Talbot Mills poll that showed 51% of New Zealanders think the country is on the wrong track, or maybe it's that 'frickin' Chris Hipkins', up to his old tricks again. After question time kicked off – following a statement from foreign affairs minister Winston Peters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza – the Labour leader and his counterpart in blue had their usual stand-off, and as per usual these days, it was over FamilyBoost. The childcare rebate scheme was recently expanded after figures showed only 241 of the expected 21,000 families had received the maximum refund amount, and the Labour Party has been all too happy to rub its enemy's nose in it. When prime minister Christopher Luxon opted to answer Hipkins' question of how many families had received the full $250 a fortnight rebate with the number of families who had received any payment under the scheme, Hipkins was undeterred. He asked the question again, and Luxon let him know that the great news here is that those middle and lower-income New Zealanders the working man's party purports to care so much about are finally getting some support. Then Winston Peters rose to his feet. 'Could the prime minister answer this question very slowly,' Peters began. As this is a sliding scale payment, are those entitled to the full amount on the scale getting their full benefit? Well, that's exactly the point I'm making, Luxon replied – 'everybody who is eligible and then applies for the rebate actually gets their full entitlement'. 'You're full of entitlement,' Labour MP Megan Woods offered. And then it was onto the price of butter – another sticking point for the red team – with Hipkins asking the prime minister how many blocks of butter he could buy with the $60 he supposedly spends on groceries a week. 'Well, it's a smart-arse question, isn't it?' Luxon replied, bringing the Hansard arse count to 45. 'In opposition you oppose, but you also propose – there's no proposals from that side.' In better news for the government, infrastructure minister Chris Bishop – with his usual gusto – lauded the government's recent announcement (or 'announcement of an announcement', if you ask Labour's Kieran McAnulty) that $6b worth of infrastructure projects will be under way by the end of the year, and 'there's some crackers on this list'. The barracking that had been rippling throughout the House all session turned to celebrations of success for the government benches: 'That's it! Hear hear!' Again, Peters decided to rise for a supplementary and insert himself into the conversation. Bishop being a Wellington minister, he began, why wasn't our 'no nonsense' Cook Strait ferry programme mentioned – but a bout of taunting laughter from the other side of the House cut over him. 'Hah,' cried Hipkins – 'because Nicola Willis cancelled it!' The finance minister leaned back in her seat and stared at the ceiling, and Peters finished his question. This ferry plan would save the taxpayers billions of dollars, he claimed, then looked to Hipkins and said 'in contrast, sausage roll eater' (side note: what does he mean by that, exactly?) 'to the profligate mess we inherited'. When the laughter died down, Bishop replied that there were just so many good infrastructure projects around the country, that he'd rather let the 'very good' minister for rail boast about his own 'good news'. But later, when NZ First tried to celebrate its own successes – with patsies from MP Jenny Marcroft giving associate health minister Casey Costello a chance to let the House know the country was still on track to be smokefree 'soon', thanks to vaping helping 200,000 smokers off of one nicotine stick and onto another – the operation went bust. After Marcroft asked Costello what she knew about current smokers, the Labour Party burst into laughter, without looking at anyone in particular. More Reading The barracking over Costello was enough to have the government benches bite back, shaking their heads and condemning their opposition counterparts for finding smoking so funny. As Costello went through the figures of current smokers – that most of them are aged between 45 and 65, are Māori or Pasifika and still smoke on a daily basis – the voice of frickin' Hipkins popped up again. 'What about the ones you hire out the back?' he called. It briefly brought laughter and a smile to Peters' face. 'Labour government my backside,' Peters grumbled.
1News
a day ago
- Politics
- 1News
Luxon snaps back at 'frickin' Hipkins over claims of 'flop'
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has challenged Labour to front up with any policy at all as he comes under pressure over National's struggling childcare support scheme. Labour revealed just 153 families had received the maximum FamilyBoost rebate, well short of the 21,000 families the Government said would be eligible for the full amount when it was unveiled last year. Speaking on his way into a Tuesday morning caucus meeting, Luxon rejected Labour's characterisation of the policy as a failure. "I'm not taking any any lectures from frickin' Chris Hipkins or the Labour Party," he told reporters. "They have no idea what to do. They put us in this mess. "You can stand on the other side and criticise as much as you like, but I don't see any policy from Labour." ADVERTISEMENT Luxon said 60,000 families had received some support from the FamilyBoost policy and another 20,000 would soon be eligible due to recent tweaks to the eligibility settings. "Isn't that great?" he said. "We have put a programme in place which Labour didn't support, didn't vote, don't back, because they don't back low-and-middle-income working New Zealanders." The former Labour government extended cheaper childcare to parents of two-year-olds, giving them access to 20 hours a week of free ECE. On taking office, the coalition reversed that policy and instead rolled out its more targeted FamilyBoost scheme — a weekly rebate on childcare costs. The coalition launched a review of the policy in April, given the unexpectedly low uptake and then expanded the initiative in early July. It said Inland Revenue had initially overestimated the number of eligible families despite best efforts. Hipkins labels National's policies 'absolute disaster zone' Responding to Luxon's comments, Labour leader Chris Hipkins said National's refusal to admit the FamilyBoost scheme was "an absolute flop" showed it was completely out-of-touch. "They're getting really desperate. On a daily basis, they're attacking me and attacking the Labour Party rather than talking about their own track record." ADVERTISEMENT Hipkins defended Labour's lack of public policy and said that would all be laid out in full before next year's election. "We're not even close to an election campaign at the moment," he said. "But, unlike him, when we go into the election campaign next year, I will make sure that the policies that we have, add up." Labour wanted to see the Government's next Budget before it outlined significant policies which would cost money, Hipkins said, and suggested a lot of policy work was underway in the background. "The National Party desperately wants to talk about the Labour Party's policy at the moment, because their own policies are turning into an absolute disaster zone." National also came under criticism when it was in opposition for a paucity of policy heading into the 2023 election year, but it had released elements of its tax plan and several discussion documents indicating a direction of travel. Finance Minister Nicola Willis: "I view butter as a beautiful, beautiful thing." The two party leaders also sparred on Tuesday morning over the price of butter which has soared to about $8.60 for a 500g block. ADVERTISEMENT Nicola Willis speaks to media on July 7, 2025. (Source: 1News) In recent weeks, Hipkins has repeatedly drawn attention to the issue, posting on social media last week: "The price of butter is up nearly 50 percent since this time last year. That's it. That's my X post." Asked what Labour would do about it if in power, Hipkins said the onus was on the coalition: "we're not the government... all we've had from them is tough talk." Luxon said dairy prices were largely dictated by global commodity prices and New Zealand dairy farmers were reaping the benefits "tremendously". He said Finance Minister Nicola Willis would be meeting with diary giant Fonterra on Tuesday evening in the context of supermarket competition. If Willis raised the issue of butter prices "good on her", Luxon said. Willis, who previously worked for Fonterra, told reporters she would raise the topic in her conversation as she was concerned butter was becoming out-of-reach for many New Zealanders. ADVERTISEMENT "I view butter as a beautiful, beautiful thing. I eat too much of it," she said. "When you see it on my piece of toast, it looks like some cheese." Willis said Fonterra was transparent about how it determined milk prices but it was less clear to her how that then translated to butter. "What we're talking about here is at the margin — 10 or 20 cents — but 10 or 20 cents really matters when you're a Kiwi family at the supermarket checkout." She also accused Labour of "crocodile tears", given its lack of proposed solutions.
Scoop
a day ago
- Politics
- Scoop
NZ And Allies Condemn 'Inhumane', 'Horrifying' Killings In Gaza And 'Drip Feeding' Of Aid
New Zealand has joined 24 other countries in calling for an end to the war in Gaza, and criticising what they call the inhumane killing of Palestinians. The Prime Minister said New Zealand was part of a joint statement calling on Israel to immediately end its war in Gaza because it's now an absolute "catastrophe". Christopher Luxon said Israel was going too far, adding the Israeli food program was being "dribbled out". The countries - including Britain, France, Canada and Australia - also condemned the Israeli government's aid delivery model in Gaza as "dangerous". "We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food" They said it was "horrifying" that more than 800 civilians had been killed while seeking aid, the majority at food distribution sites run by a US- and Israeli-backed foundation. "We call on the Israeli government to immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid and to urgently enable the UN and humanitarian NGOs to do their life saving work safely and effectively," it said. "Proposals to remove the Palestinian population into a 'humanitarian city' are completely unacceptable. Permanent forced displacement is a violation of international humanitarian law." The statement said the countries were "prepared to take further action" to support an immediate ceasefire. Reuters reported Israel's foreign ministry said the statement was "disconnected from reality" and it would send the wrong message to Hamas. "The statement fails to focus the pressure on Hamas and fails to recognise Hamas's role and responsibility for the situation," the Israeli statement said. Foreign affairs minister Winston Peters told Morning Report, New Zealand had chosen to be part of the statement as a way to have its voice heard on the "dire" humanitarian situation in Gaza. "The tipping point was some time ago... it's gotten to the stage where we've just lost our patience..." Peters said he wanted to see what the response to the condemnation was. "The conflict in the Middle East goes on and on... It's gone from a situation where it was excusable, due to the October 7 conflict, to inexcusable as innocent people are being swept into it," he said. "I do think there has to be change. It must happen now." Luxon wanted the UN and other NGOs to be let in to ensure there was "unfettered access" to humanitarian assistance, "as there should be". He also said the statement had raised the E1 settlement programme, "which essentially splits the occupied territories into two." Luxon said he didn't think that would set up conditions for what needs to happen, "which is a two state solution". "That's why you've also seen us go very hard against extremist ministers calling for settlements which we think are illegal under international law. "The ICJ made a pretty clear ruling, a provisional ruling, and we expect Israel to be bound and compliant with that." Luxon said New Zealand can have more impact with its statements and words by joining with like minded friends, to "put more volume to those statements." "We're calling it out and saying it's got to stop. "It's gone to a new depth, and it's unacceptable. "This has gone too far. This is an absolute catastrophe now." Luxon said there could be further action if Israel doesn't take note, but wouldn't define what that is. The statement also called for Hamas to release hostages "unconditionally and immediately" Luxon said. Labour's foreign affairs spokesperson Peeni Henare said the statement was long overdue, but wanted to see what else the government could do. "It's one thing to be clear on the rhetoric with respect to the delivery of aid and food, but actually let's call this out for what it is." University of Otago Professor Robert Patman told Midday Report it was a "big deal" because most of the countries who signed on "constitute key members of what might be called 'the West', countries which most of whom are liberal democracies." He said the statement He acknowledged the United States and Germany weren't on the list. But Patman said it was quite clear the majority of liberal democracies, many of whom he said had remained "disgracefully quiet during much of this tragedy that's unfolded in Gaza since the Hamas attack", were now indicating "enough is enough". Patman pointed out the statement also hinted at further action if the Israeli government doesn't respond. He said Benjamin Netanyahu had made no secret he opposed a two-state solution, but "virtually all countries" who signed the statement are "adamant" there should be a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As to whether the United States would respond to the statement, Patman said he expected the Trump administration to criticise it. But he said Trump would have to reconcile that 25 countries is a substantial number of entities, and the United States risked isolating themselves in its support for Israel. "That is having consequences for the United States' global reputation." The war in Gaza was triggered when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on 7 October, 2023, killing 1200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's subsequent air and ground war in Gaza has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, according to its Hamas-run health ministry, while displacing almost the entire population of more than 2 million and spreading a hunger crisis.
