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Awaroa Inlet beach is for sale in the Abel Tasman National Park at the top of the South Island. The slice of paradise is available for about $2 million.
You could look at it in one of three ways:
1. $2 million is a lot of money for several hundred thousand tonnes of white sand.
2. Wouldn’t it be great to own your own beach!
3. Um, why are we able to buy bits of a country when it really should all belong to all of us
House prices are super crazy in some parts of this country. A recent survey of cities in the world suggested that Auckland is one of the most expensive places to live on the face of the earth! Prices are so high that even people with good jobs can’t afford to even buy a small place to live.
So, what is this obsession with wanting to own somewhere?
But even if you think it’s fair enough to own or rent a small piece of land in a town or city with a house or apartment on it, I think there’s a huge difference between that (where there are loads of houses and in a place where thousands of people live) and trying to own a beach.
The coastal waters and beaches and mountains and rivers shouldn’t be able to be bought. These are entirely natural places, precious places, that have for hundreds or thousands of years fed and sustained people: fish from the sea, fresh water from the rivers, crops, plants, trees and animals from the land for food, shelter and clothing. The land is a gift to us to use – not something that can be bought or sold to make money.
Just because we now get our clothes from factories or food from large farms here or abroad, and can spend money on all sorts of things, that mustn’t change what we think or how we value our land.
If anyone is going to buy the beach, it should be the Government – using taxpayers’ money to get it back for the nation. If the Government did that, it would only work out to be about 50 cents per person.
Awaroa Inlet is a beach that – like the whole of this country – should belong to all of us, and not just to a person who can afford to write a cheque for $2 million.
Article written by Ben Egerton
This is an opinion-based article designed to provoke debate, discussion and further inquiry
amongst your students:
Critical Thinking Challenges:
1. Is it fair that parts of our country should be sold to anyone who can afford them?
2. If you had the money, would you pay $2 million for a beach? Why?
3. So, what is this obsession with wanting to own somewhere?
4. What might some of the problems be if all private ownership was ended, and all beaches, forests, paddocks, rivers and coasts were open to anyone who wanted to use them or live there?
5. Should we allow everything to go to the highest bidder?
Practical Task:
A number of property and real estate companies have their own websites. Find some, and spend time looking at the different types of houses or land that are on the market. Perhaps set yourself a budget and a town or city you’d like to live in. What can you get for your money? Can you get more for your money in a different place?
Have Your Say:
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28 Responses
Our class thinks that this land is precious and important. We don’t think it should be sold to the highest bidder. The Government should pay for this land because it should be for everyone to enjoy. It is only the equivalent of 50 cents per person in NZ. We worry that if this land is sold to the highest bidder, they could ruin or pollute it and take the natural resources. Also, we would hate for New Zealanders to be cut off from this slice of paradise.
🙂
this beach should be free to all of us
Use it On other things or places close to somewhere popular
we shouldnt buy the beach its a waste of money and barrley anyone will go there you can buy better things with 2 million dollars
I think the government should buy the beach so that everyone can enjoy the beach. Even tourists can go to the beach.
I think that the beach should NOT be bought by the Government as its worth $2,000,000 and that is a whole heap of money that we can use for much better uses and make them priorities such as supplying the refugees with the basic every day needs instead of buying a beach that hardly anybody will go to.
I think we shouldn’t buy it because it’s a waste of money
It would be nice to have it as a public beach but I think that $2 million dollars is a lot of money and there is a lot of things going on such as the Syrian refugees and we could build houses for them. Not many people live near the beach so is it really worth it. In my opinion I think we shouldn’t buy the beach but it was a good idea anyways.
The government should buy the beach so everyone can enjoy the beach and have fun, because that’s what the beach is for.
i think the government should’t buy the beach cause what if nobody go there and its a waste of money. you could use the money to help people who needs it instead of buying beach
whats the point of buying this beach anyway. there are so many beaches in new zealand. we could spend those 2 MILLION DOLLARS on something else more important like like giving it to the homeless people, my dad goes on taxi and always comes home and says how many homeless people there are on the street or you could even use it to build homes for syrian refugees.
PLEASE DONT BUY THE BEACH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the government have far better things to spend money on. Sure its a beautiful beach but there are things we need to spend money on like the Syrian refuges instead of throwing it away on beaches and if the government has so much money that $200000 dollars is not that much why aren’t we spending it on like stuff like the refuges
DO NOT BUY THE BEACH BECAUSE IT IS A WASTE OF MONEY!!!!!!
YOU CAN USE YOUR MONEY FOR SOMETHING BETTER!!!!!!!!
DOOOOOOOOOOOOON’T BUY THE BEACH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!OK!GOT THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!YOU GOT BETTER THINGS TO BUY!GIVE IT TO CHARITY!
I think you shouldn’t spend $2 million just on a beach, because you could just visit the public beaches.
i don’t think a beach should be for sale that’s a waste of money if i had $2 million i would give it to charity
The beach is really small so I don’t think the government should buy it.Some rich guy should just buy it.
why sell a peice of land when you can share it?
i agree
I know where he’s coming from
Its in the middle of the Abel Tasman national park. The only people having having fun is the trampers and the kayakers. https://www.abeltasman.co.nz/
Its in the middle of the Abel Tasman national park. https://www.abeltasman.co.nz/
$2Million is only a tiny fraction of what the government spends annually. The government could buy this beach and turn it into an extended campsite from the main aAwaroa campsite and make money off it and eventually get the $2Million back and extra money…
$2 Million can only buy a few houses. You are right that not many people live near the beach but Abel Tasman is full of Trampers and Kayakers which could camp on the beach and make money to use on Syrian Refugees 🙂
In the middle of the abel tasman there aren’t any public beaches. Apart from the campgrounds which you need to spend money to stay there. So the government should buy the beach and make more money.
buying the beach will enable the owners to do what ever they like with the environment. if the government owns it they could protect it.think of the animals and us.
Our class thinks that this land is precious and important. We don’t think it should be sold to the highest bidder. The Government should pay for this land because it should be for everyone to enjoy. It is only the equivalent of 50 cents per person in NZ. We worry that if this land is sold to the highest bidder, they could ruin or pollute it and take the natural resources. Also, we would hate for New Zealanders to be cut off from this slice of paradise.
…………………………………………………………………….Our class thinks that this land is precious and important. We don’t think it should be sold to the highest bidder. The Government should pay for this land because it should be for everyone to enjoy. It is only the equivalent of 50 cents per person in NZ. We worry that if this land is sold to the highest bidder, they could ruin or pollute it and take the natural resources. Also, we would hate for New Zealanders to be cut off from this slice of paradise.