Land sales scheme to cease

The Government intends to scrap the contentious land reforms known as tenure review, following a scathing internal report that pointed to multiple failings in the process.

An announcement on the cancellation is imminent, according to multiple people with knowledge of the Government’s plans.

The reforms – which began informally in the early 1990s but were adopted formally in 1998 – concerned hundreds of Crownowned farms that were leased to pastoral farmers.

The voluntary tenure review process broke up those leases.

Part of the land went into private ownership, with the remainder entering the conservation estate.

Critics of the reforms have said the resulting privatisation of land handed some of New Zealand’s most valuable land to wealthy property developers, often at a cost to the Crown.

Some of those who bought land that was formerly Crown leases include Peter Thiel, Graham Hart, and Sir John Key.

Some of the most expensive properties advertised for sale in New Zealand are on former pastoral leases.

In numerous cases, land that was privatised by the Crown for significantly less than market value was quickly on-sold for enormous profits.

A Stuff investigation in 2018 found that tenure review had cost taxpayers about $65 million, and resulted in the privatisation of nearly half a million hectares of once Crown-owned land, some of which had become property developments and luxury golf courses.

Supporters of the process, however, say the nature of the Crown lease meant the leaseholders had significant rights over the land, and were thus entitled to most of the benefits of privatisation.

Tenure review resulted in about 400,000ha of leasehold land entering the conservation estate, which led to the creation of several conservation parks.

The decision to scrap the process appears to be driven by an internal report conducted by Land Information New Zealand (Linz), which manages tenure review on behalf of the Commissioner of Crown Lands.

The report said it was unclear what the Crown was trying to achieve with tenure review, and there had been a focus on completing deals.

It said the Crown ‘‘does not appear to have a clear strategic objective, other than exiting the [leases]’’ and the system had been ‘‘seen as operational in nature, which has encouraged a focus on processes at the expense of outcomes’’.

It concluded: ‘‘Overall, the combination of stronger farming links, poor or variable quality ecological advice, and the desire to complete deals has meant development has resulted.’’

It said that greater coordination between the agencies involved, as intended by Linz, ‘‘will not be enough to satisfy all external stakeholders’’.

The Minister for Land Information, Eugenie Sage, would not confirm the cancellation, but confirmed she had ‘‘asked officials to review management of high country pastoral leases including the tenure review process’’.