Summarised by Centrist
Economist Robert MacCulloch, writing for Down to Earth Kiwi, calls Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s investor visa scheme a scam that devalues New Zealand’s passport while serving fund managers, not the economy.
He argues Luxon’s claim that NZ needs more foreign investment is misleading, as NZ already has the fourth-highest net foreign investment in the OECD.
MacCulloch says the scheme fails to attract real Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), the kind that “supports economic growth… brings technical knowledge & management skills to the host nation.” Instead, wealthy applicants can “throw some of Daddy’s money into a managed fund run by an NZ Big Bank” to buy residency without creating jobs or transferring skills.
He suggests fund managers lobbied for the scheme, asking: “Has the government been corrupted by the funds industry in NZ? Did it lobby to connect investment in one of their funds to foreigners being gifted a Kiwi passport?” He also warns that NZ-based managed funds can invest offshore, meaning “foreign investors’ money can come into NZ and go straight out again.”
Blasting the removal of the English language requirement, he predicts the visa will attract “useless kids of rich offshore families, who can’t speak English, bring no skills & expertise, don’t work, yet use our healthcare, education, and infrastructure for free.” He also questions if this “con-job” is a “dirty backroom deal between the PM and the industry.”
