Prime Minister Christopher Luxon live on the Mike Hosking Breakfast. Video / Newstalk ZB
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has hinted at new rules for foreigners purchasing houses as the Foreign Minister continues to voice his concerns on the number of migrants moving here.
Luxon joined Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking to speak about the lengthy conversations between himself and Winston Peters that may be finalisedin the coming weeks.
Luxon said he wanted to ensure the mechanisms are in place first, but the conversations were about the value of the homes they would want immigrants to purchase, not where they came from or what money and skills they would bring.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters. Photo / Mark Mitchell
He said Peters wanted to revisit the scheme completely.
“He had a position at the election, which he had to revisit completely. Both of us are prepared to do that. Yeah. We’re working our way through it,” Luxon said.
“We are very close. We will have something to say about it shortly. I just don’t want to get ahead of it.
“In fairness, Winston, you know, you heard him say again last week, he’s in a position where he’s got people who are seriously putting serious money into New Zealand, they should be able to purchase a house.”
He referred to his party as “nationalist” while his coalition partners are “globalists”, and believes Kiwis are increasingly worried about immigration issues.
“We intend to turn that problem into a success story, so people do understand that, when you’re coming here, there are some fundamental things you need to sign up to,” he said. “If you don’t want to sign up to it, don’t come.”
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon with Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. Photo / Dean Purcell
Luxon made the announcement with Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk, who said thousands of overseas building products had been given the green light for construction.
“[This ends] costly monopolies on a small number of products that are currently used in New Zealand,” Penk said.
“It is 50% more expensive to build a standalone home in New Zealand than in Australia. That is frankly outrageous.”
This morning, Luxon said there was a lot of positive progress being made in the construction sector.
“Yeah, but you know, like I’ve been talking to the construction sector last week and it’s been brutal for those guys, right?
“They borrow huge amounts of money, and the interest rates have been really high. They feel big booms, big busts, you know, more so than any other sector.
“You know, they’ve started to see, right, we’ve got $6 billion of proper projects, actual proper projects with real people doing real things before Christmas on those projects.”
