Tony Burnett, Trade and Investment Queensland; Ash Govil, Queensland Cotton; Duncan Bedford, McCullough Robertson Lawyers; Rawdon Briggs, Colliers Agribusiness and Michael Blakeney, Riparian Capital Partners.Sheep Central | 23 July 2025

by James Nason 

A tax imposed uniquely by Queensland on foreign-owned agricultural land is having a “chilling effect” on new investment and prompting existing offshore investors to divest Queensland assets and replace them with investments in other states.

Queensland’s land tax regime was a key topic during a Queensland Agriculture Investment Panel held at a Rural Press Club lunch in Brisbane last week, which explored the attractiveness of Queensland’s agriculture to offshore investors.

While the overall investment picture for the State was positive – based on a secure economy, large-scale high-quality agricultural assets and diverse investment opportunities – concerns about the impact of the State’s foreign-owned land tax on investment was a major red flag raised.

Impact ‘very real’

Speakers said several recent investment discussions had been “paused” directly due to the tax, with panellists confirming the impact is “very real”.

A representative of an offshore corporate entity which owns agricultural land in Queensland also privately confirmed to Beef Central at the event that it is currently selling Queensland rural properties to replace with New South Wales assets, as a direct consequence of the State’s foreign land tax.

The Queensland Government first introduced a foreign land tax surcharge in its 2019–20 State Budget, applying a 2% surcharge to land tax liabilities of foreign companies and trustees of foreign trusts.

It is understood that the surcharge was introduced nominally to help solve the State’s housing availability crisis by limiting the amount of residential properties selling to foreign investors.

However it also captures agricultural land and, as Thursday’s discussion demonstrated, it is having a negative impact on agricultural investment in the State.

A 2023 investor paper cited Queensland as the most heavily taxed jurisdiction in Australia for foreign-owned primary production land, which is subject to a combined 4.75 percent annual land tax. In contrast, several other states and territories impose no such tax. It also highlighed the uncompetitive nature of Queensland’s approach to duties on primary production assets (see below).

Introducing the discussion, panel moderator Michael Blakeney from Riparian Capital Partners highlighted the long history of waves of offshore capital that had shaped Queensland’s agricultural sector since colonial times.

The discussion heard that Queensland’s land tax regime is now creating a significant barrier for foreign investors.

Panelist Rawdon Briggs from Colliers’ Agribusiness said the impact on investment was “absolutely real”, but added the land tax was just one component, and also pointed to payroll tax as another hurdle to Queensland’s competitiveness.

Later in the Q&A session, prominent corporate lawyer Brett Heading from Hamilton Locke also added his voice to the concerns surrounding the tax.

“If you did a straw poll around this room today, everybody will tell you that the land tax is having a chilling effect on transactions in Queensland,” he said.

He then urged Queensland Government representatives in the room to tell the Premier and Treasurer “the land tax needs to be changed”.

Govt ministers want to see direct examples

Panellist Tony Burnett representing Queensland Government agency Trade and Investment Queensland said government ministers had made it clear they wanted to hear from people with clear examples of impacts from the tax.

“I think from a Government point of view we’re certainly aware of the issues around land tax,” he said.

“The new Government has definitely made it a priority to improve the ex-gratia relief payment process.

“So I think the treasurer made a comment in the budget speech that they are certainly looking into it.

“They’re asking for examples, so if there are people in the room here that have seen capital fly out of Queensland, and it is hurting the business or the industry you’re involved in, please write to the treasurer and or the Minister for Primary Industries, they really want to know.”

Olam Agri: Tax ‘just one line item for us’

Not everyone on the panel shared the view that the foreign land tax was a major impediment to attracting investment.

Panellist Ash Govil represented Queensland Cotton, a subsidiary of Olam Agri, which has recently been purchased by Saudi Arabia’s SALIC, which has more than $1 trillion of invested funds under management.

The company works in 35 different countries, including some that are “very difficult” to operate in.

“So we look at things very differently,” he said.

When deciding whether to invest capital, he said the decision came down to whether the industry and investment fitted with Olam Agri’s overall strategy, and then an assessment of the risk versus the return.

“And frankly whether it is Queensland or New South Wales is not relevant to us.

“The tax is just one line item for us.”

He said if the revenue from the tax was invested in improving ports and roads, significant freight savings could be passed back to the farmer.

“As long as it is getting used to improve the rural supply chain it makes sense, otherwise just a revenue generation for the Government.”

The plus side

Mr Govil added that while Australia was “a very expensive place” to do business, it was also “the most efficient place”.

“If you were to run similar operations in other countries you would probably have 10 times the struggle

“We would have vehicles everywhere. We would have people sitting just to police the people who are policing the people.

“This is one of the easiest and the best places to work because you are not second guessing.”

$1B in Qld ag investment pipeline

Tony Burnett from Trade and Investment Queensland said the agency had been focusing heavily on attracting agricultural investment in recent years and had seen an uptick in investment activity.

“We’ve probably got – rough numbers – around $1 billion in our agri investment pipeline sitting on deals that may take three, four or five years to mature, but we’re having those conversations,” he said.

“Even this morning sitting with some investors – I won’t tell you where they’re from or what country – but they’re talking to other States and they are openly telling us that we are great to work with in Queensland compared to the other States.

“We’re very connected as Government departments, we have got our friends over here at DPI who provide a great support to us, also from Treasury, we do work really well together in Queensland, we have a coordinator general’s office.”