Editorial Scott Stevens Issue 462 I watched a segment on TV last week about foreign ownership of New Zealand real estate and the example held up as a shining example was right here, literally surrounding half the Wakatipu. A big swinging music mogul called Mutt Lange who owns high country land stretching from the Shotover to the Crown Range from Arrowtown to Wanaka, has set aside 53 thousand hectares for ecological protection. Protection forever under covenants and administered by The Queen Elizabeth II National Trust. Quite amazing someone would be so generous. To the people of a country he visits occasionally. I have to admit to being very suspicious of Mr Lange as he was buying up this land surrounding my house with his then wife, pop singer Shania Twain. What were his motives and what would it mean to me. Up to the point he started acquiring these farms I had very good access across this land and had friends employed on some of the farms. Lange and his new management went about closing down most of the working side of the farm businesses and my friends lost their jobs. I no longer had a friendly farm manager I could call to get legal access for shooting, rambling and gold prospecting in the hills above my house. If Winston Peters, Colin Craig and Hone Harawira promised to form a coalition back then, and block Lange from buying up my back yard, I might have considered it such was my level of suspicion. I thought I could see a future where heavily guarded private retreats popped up all over this outstanding natural landscape. With simple Kiwi folk like me barred from accessing it. But how wrong I was, the secret plan was not a Hollywood gated community but a gift back to the people of New Zealand. And as it turned out, employment on this massive conservation effort for plenty of local people. The political football that is foreign ownership is tough one. Here in the Wakatipu foreign ownership is nothing new. You would be hard pressed to find any high country land around the lake without some proportion of foreign ownership. Are these foreign owners doing good things or bad things with this land? In the case of the high country, a bad thing would be letting it go to rack and ruin. Allowing noxious pest plants and animals to take over. Doing a good thing is leaving it in better shape when you cease to be the owner. All land ownership is nothing more than a temporary custodianship in the whole scheme of things. So quite frankly the nationalities of the owners today mean nothing. The land will always be here. Hopefully in better condition than today. lwb.co.nz
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 21:00:01 +0000
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