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‘Reprehensible racism’ By NICK KRAUSE
B
OTANY MP Jami-Lee Ross has slammed Labour’s claims wealthy Chinese are to blame for the spike in Auckland house prices. Property Institute of New Zealand chief executive Ashley Church says the claims by Labour housing spokesman Phil Twyford are “reprehensibleâ€? and “an exercise in unveiled racismâ€?. Mr Twyford at the weekend released ďŹ gures to support his claim that people of Chinese descent accounted for 39.5 per cent of the property transactions in Auckland between February and April. However, Mr Church describes the data used by Mr Twyford as “shonkyâ€?
and says it has so many holes in it that it would be marked with an ‘F’ if it was submitted as a High School Economics project. “Mr Twyford uses ‘Asian-sounding’ surnames as his means to identify which buyers are ‘Asian Investors’ – without any way of knowing whether the buyer is a New Zealand immigrant who lives here, or an investor based in China.� “On that basis Mr Twyford should be blowing the whistle on Scottish foreign investment in this country because a large number of Kiwi homes are owned by people who have names starting with ‘Mc’ or ‘Mac’. “This is the sort of racist sideshow we’d expect from NZ First – not a
serious political party with pretensions to hold the reins of power.� Mr Ross said it was unfortunate that Labour used “questionable and potentially stolen data to attack anyone with a Chinese sounding surname�. “Surnames are not a proxy for ethnicity. Nor are they a good way of distinguishing between New Zealanders and offshore purchasers,� he says. “We live in a very multicultural community. The reason people see non-European faces at auctions is because there is a large number of non-Europeans living in our community, as residents and citizens. We are richer for this ethnic diversity.� The requirements for non-resident
purchasers of property to provide an IRD number, offshore tax information and set up a NZ bank account will provide more accurate information when it is implemented later this year, he says. “But the more important solution to housing is actually building more houses and keeping interest rates low. No amount of scapegoating one ethnic group changes the fact that the supply of houses is the biggest problem we have. “Through the creation of special housing areas, the fast-tracking of consenting, and the use of Crownowned land for housing, we will see more houses built in Auckland. ➤ Turn to Page 2
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