Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Today the Prime Minister has announced that from 1 March this year the screening threshold for foreign investment in agricultural land will be cut from $252 million to $15 million. That cut in the threshold to $15 million is a cumulative total, so if a foreign investor currently holds $13 million of agricultural land and they make an acquisition that extends beyond $15 million, it is all triggered even though it might be less than the $15 million for a single purchase. The reason we are doing this is that it is in the national interest to better understand the levels of foreign investment in agricultural land. There is more work to be done. Following the excellent work by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, as chair of the House of Representatives committee, we will be saying more about the overall foreign investment regime and in particular in relation to residential land and residential purchases in Australia. We will also be saying more about how we can improve the transparency of ownership of land and in particular residential land in Australia. So from 1 March the new regime begins, and I say emphatically that this is the first word and not the last word on the integrity of the foreign investment regime.

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