You know what I’m loving at the moment? It’s the smart ideas people are coming up with for how we can come out of this crisis better.

This is a tough thing we’re going through as a country and as a global community, but in every crisis lies an opportunity, and today, we’ve had probably one of the best ideas yet: leverage New Zealand’s safe haven appeal to attract ultra-wealthy people here.

This has come from wellington businessman Troy Bowker. What he’s suggesting is that we set up a scheme where up to 2000 rich foreigners can earn permission to live in New Zealand and get a Kiwi passport, as long as they invest $50 million each into the country.

They must invest in productive assets, which is to say, fund businesses and infrastructure that create jobs. The money can never leave.

So, the rich-listers bring in money we would otherwise have to borrow. In turn they get to live in a safe haven away from the world’s madness.

Isn’t that a win-win?

I reckon he’s onto something. Arguably, we’ve never fully leveraged the New Zealand brand.

Our businesses have struggled for decades to attract investment into this country.  This would alleviate some of that.

It’s not an untested concept.  We do this already.  We already offer a visa allowing rich-listers residency if they invest $10 million here over a three year period.

And while $50 million might sound like a lot to most of us, to billionaires it is a fraction of their value.

Of course, there will be concern about this. No one wants Kiwis to get priced out of buying land here, so we should make sure we include protections over what we consider sensitive assets.

But we’re paying a lot, you and I, for this lockdown and for the goal of eliminating the disease in this country.  That will make New Zealand a pretty special place, if we can achieve it.  If others want to enjoy the end result, we shouldn’t pass up the opportunity to make them pay for the privilege.