The Labour Party is taking aim at the Government’s handling of the foreign land ownership issue.

At the party conference in Auckland over the weekend, leader Phil Goff outlined a new policy, whereby potential overseas investors would have to prove a sale’s economic benefit to New Zealand.

Mr Goff says the policy would reverse the current trend of most sales being approved.

He defended Labour’s record on foreign investment during its nine-year tenure, and says the party’s policy is different to recent changes announced by the Government.

"It’s not simply a case of proving benefit, everybody knows that New Zealanders are efficient farmers, no company from Hong Kong is going to be able to come over and show us how to farm better.

"It’s about making sure our limited land which provides the bulk of our exports stays in New Zealand ownership.

"The whole onus under Labour will be about proving those downstream benefits, not just gaining capital for overseas companies.”

The rules would apply to all tracts of land bigger than 5 hectares.