Land sale scheme to be stopped

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

The decision was announced by Land Information Minister Eugenie Sage yesterday.

‘‘We’ve seen a very mixed bag in terms of the tenure review outcomes,’’ she said.

‘‘There’s been a lot of criticism of the process for a long time, and there is strong support across all of the government parties for ending tenure review and moving to a vision of enduring stewardship for our high country.’’

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.

It also allowed more intensified 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 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 tenure review had cost taxpayers about $65 million, and, since its beginnings in 1992, had 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 350,000ha of leasehold land entering the conservation estate, which led to the creation of several conservation parks.

The Government would announce on Sunday its vision for the future of the high country, Sage said.

The focus, however, would be on sustainable farming and protecting the remaining landscape values.