Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Catherine Beard: Business New Zealand Director of Agency on a reform to the Overseas Investments Act

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Catherine Beard: Business New Zealand Director of Agency on a reform to the Overseas Investments Act · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So the government's announced an overhaul of the Overseas Investment Act.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: It will make it easier for businesses to receive international
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: investment and for international investors to invest here. Business New
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Zealand Director of Advocacy Catherine Beard joins us. Now, how
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: the Catherine, Good morning. What's your reaction.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Oh, look, this is a very good move. We've been
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: advocating for this a number of years now. New Zealand's
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: actually one of the hardest places to invest in the OECD,
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: and while the rest of the world has increased investment,
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: our investment line has flatlined. So very good move, very good.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: It's fair to say that most New Zealanders would really
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: like to see some foreign capital invested in New Zealand businesses,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: rather than just making it easier for foreign companies to
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: come in and therefore take our money overseas. I see
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: on the Telly last night they used Ikea as an example.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: But Ikea has spent their money over the last six
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: years to come to New Zealand to then get the
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: profits and repatriate them. Of course, all we get is
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: a bit of employment. Isn't the real trick to keep
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: the profits here? To get foreigners to invest in New Zealand.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Look absolutely, and if I think about all our
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: big successful exporting businesses, most of them will have foreign investment.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: And they don't just bring the money, they bring the
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: connections to international markets. So a lot of our exporters
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: who really smash it out there on the world market
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: have foreign investment. Without it, you're just really not that
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: competitive because you can't get big enough. And I would
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: argue that the jobs they create, those frontier firms that
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: are all high paid jobs, you know, those people are
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: paying tax. The business pays tax it grows, so you know,
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: there's always trade offs, but certainly for the rest of
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: the world, it's been a winning move and New Zealand's
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: sort of been sitting on the sideline.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Well yeah, the opponents say the trade off is that
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: you every now and then you lose key assets. But
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: of course David Seman was saying that there will be
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: a The Minister can still say no if he feels
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: it's bad for business. Is that right, It's correct.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: So they've actually they are exempting a few things, so
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: they're putting farmland and residential and fishing quota more on
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: a slow track for decisions, So there will be protections there.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: And you know when it comes to land, actually you
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: can't take the land with you. You can't put in a
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: suitcase and take it overseas. So if and if foreign
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: investor doesn't make a success of it, then they will
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: have to sell to somebody else who can.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: All right, have you done any studies or have you
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: seen any studies that has put a dollar value on
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: how much this might improve our economy?
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Ah, look, that's a huge unknown. I think we just
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: need to get the welcome matt properly out there. Other
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: countries have and you know, we've just made it incredibly
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: hard and frustrating to invest here.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Catherine Beard, I thank you very much for your time
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: and your expertise, and have yourself a great morning.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: For more from earlier edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 2:59
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• 3:02
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