Murray Horton noted Labour leader Chris Hipkins said that: ‘For too long we have leaned on overseas investment and too often the jobs and wealth that start here end up offshore’. He also said we need a Government that backs our people, our ideas, and our industries so our people and wealth stay here at home,”
“CAFCA could not have said it better. In fact, we have been saying the same thing for 50 years as Governments of both flavours have made it easier for overseas corporates to buy local businesses”.
Murray Horton says Labour’s fresh approach comes at an important juncture because the ACT-National-NZ First government is currently pushing a Bill to make it even easier for overseas investors to gain access to New Zealand resources.
“Kiwis are constantly told that ‘We need overseas investment’. What we have had, however, is not foreign investment, but foreign takeovers” he says.
Corporates are a majior threat as they have eyes only for the “Almighty Dollar” nd maximising profits. Add in foreign corporates and the danger, long term, is a doiuble edged sword.
Words come easy to politicians. It should be remembered that Labour when in government, it made it easier for foreign investors to come into NZ to establish “carbon farming”.
The trouble with foreign corporates are their ruthless lobbyists and the tendency to make political donations to political parties who then serve their corporate mates and ignore the public interest, i.e. the voting people.