Foreign Minister Bob Carr to keep his New Zealand property
Our newly sworn in Foreign Minister Bob Carr has indicated he intends keeping his long-held New Zealand investment property following his recent appointment.
It’s a three-hectare lifestyle block in the Gibbston Valley pinot noir wine district, which cost $365,000 in 2003. He and his wife, Helena, remain the registered owners and ratepayers according to the Queenstown Lakes District Council rates office.
The building block adjoins the Mt Rosa Vineyard near Queenstown on the South Island and was bought by the Carrs towards the end of his term as the NSW premier.
"It can't be a conflict of interest provided it's been declared," his spokesman told Property Observer, dismissing the likelihood that being a ratepayer of NZ might trigger any such awkwardness either way across the ditch.
The latest official land valuation of the 3.3446-hectare lifestyle block shows up as $415,000, indicating it barely covers the costs.
Its land value peaked at $510,000 in boomtime 2007.
The couple’s annual rates began at $1,242 and now stand at $1,425.
While he paid no stamp duty on the property because – unlike NSW – New Zealand had no stamp duty regime, Carr paid $37,202 in GST to the New Zealand government on his property purchase. The GST rate in New Zealand at the time of the purchase was 12.5%.
Given its still without any house, the property has been only rarely visited by Bob Carr, whose first semi-official overseas trip happened co-incidently to be New Zealand.
It’s only a short drive from the old gold-mining town of Arrowtown and the bustling town of Queenstown.
Estate agents say it’s blessed with a semi-continental climate and locked in with deep valleys, luscious green hills and snow covered mountains, Gibbston Valley is one of the most idyllic areas in New Zealand.
World-famous vineyards in the region include Waitiri Creek, Nevis Bluff, Chard Farm, Peregrine and tucked away around the back road, Two Paddocks, Valli Vineyards, Mount Edward, and Sleeping Dogs.
The bigger property - which includes a sandstone shepherd's cottage - was formerly the original ram paddock for Kawarua Station, which totalled 86,365 hectares acres and ran 40,000 sheep. There are about 25 blocks that share the same dusty road (pictured above and below) were sold off in 2003 with international buyers coming from Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and the United States. Most appear to remain as building blocks, with those who've built being given $1 million plus council valuations.
The protocol for foreign government officials wishing to purchase Australian property in their own names involves notifying the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board of any proposed acquisitions prior to entering into contracts to purchase the property.
The case of Foreign Ministers owning foreign soil seemingly isn’t spelt out anywhere officially.
