Foreign investment in Aotearoa/New Zealand

CAFCA Is Seeking A Volunteer
To Write Up Overseas Investment Office Decisions For
Foreign Control Watchdog & CAFCA Website

For more than 30 years, CAFCA has written up the monthly Decisions (i.e approvals) of the Overseas Investment Office (OIO; before that it was the Overseas Investment Commission).

These write-ups have been a staple feature of hard copy Foreign Control Watchdog for all of that time and they are also on CAFCA’s Website, going back decades. It is a core CAFCA resource.

There have only ever been three writers – Bill Rosenberg, for most of that period; James Ayers; and Linda Hill. All have done a uniformly meticulous and excellent job.

We are appealing far and wide for a volunteer. If you’re interested, or know somebody who might be, please e-mail us.

Salient facts:

You can see what such write-ups look like here. (April 2021 are the most recent ones on our Website).
We’re looking for a volunteer – neither Bill nor James nor Linda got paid.
We would need continuity.
What is involved?
- The OIO e-mails CAFCA the monthly Decisions; we flick them on to the writer (they are also on the OIO’s Website).
- Writing and research ability is needed, it is not just a cut and paste job. Bill and James and Linda have incorporated relevant media coverage in many write-ups and cross-referenced them to previous Decisions involving the same transnational corporation or farm, or suchlike.
- No special skills are needed. But what is needed is a solid block of time. James Ayers estimated that it took him the equivalent of one week (40 hours) to produce the four months’ worth of Decisions to be written up for each Watchdog.
How often does it have to be done? Three times per year – one batch of four months of Decisions for each hard copy Watchdog (the most recent issue containing OIO Decisions uploaded online is August 2021. You can view the PDF of that here. The OIO Decisions are on pages 64-79 inclusive).
What are the Watchdog deadlines? March 1, July 1 and November 1.

If you are interested in having a go, contact us and we’ll send you one recent month’s batch of Decisions and you can trial researching and writing them up.

Can you help CAFCA? Or do you know someone who might be able to?

Decisions of the Overseas Investment Commission and Overseas Investment Office

The approval of the Overseas Investment Office (OIO; before 25 August 2005, the Overseas Investment Commission (OIC)) is required for most overseas investment into Aotearoa/New Zealand that involves land and fishing, and most other investment valued at $100 million or more. See its website for details. In fact, it acts as a rubber stamp, approving almost all applications.

However, it does act as a source of information as to foreign investment coming into Aotearoa/New Zealand. CAFCA decided to make use of this by requesting under the Official Information Act all decisions of the OIC, and analysing them each month. After several years of argument, that information began being supplied in December 1989. Decisions since November 2006 are now available on the OIO’s website. Most of CAFCA’s analyses are available through the links below, and give often detailed information on the companies buying assets in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Until 2008 they were written by Bill Rosenberg; from 2009 to 16 James Ayers was the writer; since 2016 they have been written by Linda Hill.

Note: See CAFCA Forces Overseas Investment Office To Lift Cloak of Secrecy On Its Approvals.

Also, as we update our website with a new design, some of the pages available below will appear in their original form. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and are working to complete the full update as soon as possible.