Massive Questions Remain over Government’s Foreign Home-Buyer Ban
"The Government needs to immediately come clean over whether its foreign home-buyer ban breaches basic human rights and
contravenes New Zealand’s trade deals with other countries”, says ACT Leader David Seymour.
On Thursday, the Government introduced legislation which would ban foreign home-buyers. Treasury has now released the
advice it provided to Ministers on the proposed ban. It raises a number of questions which the Government must
immediately answer.
“First, is the ban consistent with the Bill of Rights Act 1990 which protects New Zealanders’ human rights and
fundamental freedoms? Although heavily redacted, the Cabinet paper says that Treasury and the Ministry of Justice 'will
work together...to improve consistency with the Bill of Rights Act’. This is hardly a ringing endorsement.
“Second, does the ban breach New Zealand’s trade deals with other countries? The 'international obligations' section of
the Cabinet paper is completely withheld. Questions have been repeatedly raised on this issue and must now be answered.
“Third, will this knee-jerk ban have unforseen effects? In its advice, the Treasury sent a warning to the Government
about the speed with which it intends to implement this ban. It says the rushed process may lead to ‘unintended
consequences’ and leaves little time for real estate agents, the public, and government departments to come up to speed
with the changes.
"Not only does this ban prevent Kiwis from selling their property to whomever they choose, Vancouver’s experience shows
it is unlikely to work. Given these new questions over the ban, the Government should now think very carefully about how
it proceeds”, says Mr Seymour.