The National Party were in uproar in Parliament today as Housing Minister Phil Twyford assured Labour "welcome" foreign investment in the Kiwi housing market - but it may have been a case of both parties arguing over different policies.
The Housing Minster received scoffs and laughter from the opposition side of the House when he said Labour has for the last four years supported a policy of welcoming foreign investment in new-build homes.
"It has always been our view Mr Speaker, that we welcome foreign direct investment in the building of new homes," Mr Twyford said.
"We stand by our position that the domestic real estate market for existing homes should be protected from unrestricted flows of foreign capital.
"We have always welcomed foreign investment in new builds, that is our policy and we expect foreign direct investment in new builds will continue, including in large scale development that are also supported by KiwiBuild."
National's housing spokesperson Judith Collins had claimed in her question: "If overseas investment in KiwiBuild is something he is very happy with, as he told the nation this weekend, then why is he also not very happy with overseas investments in private developments?"
One of the Labour Party's first policy announcements in Government was a plan to ban foreigners buying existing New Zealand housing in 2018.
However, the Housing Minister was keen to distinguish this policy from their support foreign investment in newly built homes - of which many will come under the KiwiBuild aspiration to build 100,000 homes over the next decade.
"I don't know how I can be any clearer about our position. Our position hasn't changed in the last four years," Mr Twyford said.
The Housing Minister was also forced to deny accusations from Ms Collins that the Government would be paying overseas companies to manufacture pre-fabricated kit-set houses for KiwiBuild.
"We are not anticipating bringing flat-packs in from overseas. We are not anticipating bringing workers in form overseas," Mr Twyford said.
"The Kiwi element in KiwiBuild is young Kiwi families getting the opportunity to own their own home after a decade of denial."
SHARE ME