Bill to ensure property rights to be debated

United Future MP Gordon Copeland drafted the New Zealand Bill of Rights (Private Property Rights) Amendment Bill and said today property rights had been eroded in many ways over the years.

He said the rights to own private property dated back to the Magna Carta in 1215, and extended through New Zealand's common law tradition.

"Unfortunately, the vagaries of the Bill of Rights have cast that into doubt in New Zealand over recent years.

"If you're a farmer, and under the RMA (Resource Management Act) you're told you can't build a woolshed where you want, today you're lumbered with the cost of putting it up half a mile down the road," he said.

"This bill is about redressing the balance. It is about getting back to what private property ownership has always been about - the right to enjoy the full and free use of your land and to sleep soundly in your home at night."

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