Change to Overseas Investment Act 2005
By Order in Council today the government has amended Regulation 28 of the Overseas Investment Act 2005 by adding the following:
“(h) whether the overseas investment will, or is likely to, assist New Zealand to maintain New Zealand control of strategically important infrastructure on sensitive land.”
The above is the Order In Council that went through last night.
What is "strategically important infrastructure"?
What is "sensitive land""?
What does "assist New Zealand to maintain New Zealand control" mean?
We were expecting the above questions to be asked by every major New Zealand company and all business groups this morning. But we can spot only one press release. On the political side Bill English has issued a sensible statement criticising the move and as expected the NZ First and Green positions are supportive.
There is, however, quite a bit from the media with considerable international interest eg Bloomberg; Channel News Asia; International Herald Tribune.
Locally we have some good comment from the media - Bernard Hickey asks "why change the rules now?"and Nevil Gibson talks about decisions being taken more by political whim than business considerations.
