Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. He, like most Australians, appreciates that over the years Australia has depended very heavily on agriculture and our farming industries to underpin our national economy. For more than a hundred years it was said that our country rode on the sheep's back, and wool and other farm industries certainly underpinned our national economy. But over recent times there has been a growing interest in the importance of our agricultural land, particularly in these days of food security concerns and growing populations around the world, and our precious agricultural resources are regarded very highly around the world.

We have always had foreign investment in agriculture in Australia. You can go right back to 1788. From then onwards, there has been foreign investment in agriculture, and that investment has played an important role in developing modern agriculture, bringing new technology to our country. But we have a right as a nation to be sure that investments in our country are not contrary to the national interest.

Over recent times, there has been an explosion in foreign purchases of land in this country. In Queensland, the only state that has a register of foreign ownership, the level of foreign land ownership has trebled over the last decade, under the watch of the previous Labor government. They stood by and did absolutely nothing.

Mr Perrett interjecting—

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