The Australian Agricultural Company abattoir in Darwin (Photo: Peter Eve)
Tough new rules as foreigners gouge huge chunk of Australia
by SCOTT ROCHFORT
THE Federal Government is set to tighten its scrutiny of foreign purchases of Australian agricultural land.
Forty five companies with at least some level of foreign ownership currently control farmland with an area of more than half the size of NSW.
Federal Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce told The Daily Telegraph the new rules, which will lower the threshold of farm purchases examined by the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) from $248 million to $15 million, were “imminent”.
“We are entitled to have a proper oversight and in some instances a concern if people believe things are becoming excessive,’’ Mr Joyce said.
“Australia has the most liberal foreign investment rules around but the position Australia has would not be accepted by China, Korea, Japan, the US or any other nation I can think of.”
The new rules will see the FIRB threshold for the purchase of agribusinesses lowered from $248 million to $53 million. Any entities owned by a foreign government will have a $1 FIRB threshold.
“Someone from overseas could buy a $230 million property today, come back to the market without anyone asking any question and buy a $230 million property the next day and then come back the next day and buy another $230 million property, and it’s never queried,’’ Mr Joyce said.
“Now it’s going to be $15 million and if you buy a $1 place the next day it goes back to the Foreign Investment Review Board.”
The area of agricultural land owned fully or in part by foreign-owned businesses grew 10 per cent to 49.6 million hectares from December 2010 to June 2013, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures.
In all, 12.4 per cent of Australia’s agricultural land has some level of foreign ownership, with 95 per cent of this land in the hands of just 45 overseas companies.
The Free Trade Agreement with China, which is expected to be finalised as soon as this week and could see a softening on the FIRB rules on Chinese investment in Australia, will not apply to agriculture, Mr Joyce said.
Mr Joyce said Australia had also signed off its recent FTAs with Japan and South Korea on the premise the FIRB rules on agricultural land would be tightened.
“We have told the Japanese government quite clearly that these will be the policy settings,’’ he said.
Mr Joyce said he had no concerns about foreign companies buying agricultural assets unless the foreign purchase of agricultural businesses in Australia resulted in those businesses paying less tax.
He said he was also concerned about foreign entities being able to accumulate vast tracts of land with no Australian government oversight.
