Overhaul for farm lease policy
A planned high country farm lease overhaul will crack down on privatisation and put greater emphasis on environmental protection.
It comes after the axing of the controversial tenure review scheme, under which more than 350,000 hectares of Crown farmland has been privatised while costing the taxpayer about $65 million, following a scathing report highlighting several failures with the process.
The changes announced by the Government yesterday would allow considerations such as environmental issues to be taken into account when issuing consents.
Leaseholders would also have to publicly lay out what they wanted to achieve in managing the land.
Specific criteria for monitoring of the impacts of any changes made to the land will be introduced, looking at the environmental, cultural and economic impacts of the decision.
Land Information Minister Eugenie Sage said the Government would stop the privatisation of iconic landscapes that belong to New Zealanders and secure them for future generations.
‘‘We want to ensure that farmers can farm sustainably while protecting natural values, landscape values, because these dryland ecosystems are really important for our tourism industry, in terms of landscapes, and for all New Zealanders, in terms of their plants and wildlife.’’
She said ending tenure review and changing the way Crown high country land was regulated was about thinking long term and working with leaseholders to achieve sustainable land and water management.
The Crown still holds 171 pastoral properties, mostly in the high country of the South Island. It adds up to land use, such as irrigated farming, in ecologically sensitive areas such as the Mackenzie Basin.
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.
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.
The scheme was reviewed by Land Information New Zealand (Linz), which found the system focused too strongly on the process without a clear sense of what it should be achieving. It did not consider the results of previous decisions nor its effects on other areas of the high country.
Following public consultation on its proposed changes to how the land is managed, the Government will make changes to the Land Act 1949 and Pastoral Act 1998.