John Cobb (Calare, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is good to see the member for Hunter in the House. It is good to see him here learning about foreign investment and worrying about agriculture.

From 1 March, the screening threshold was lowered from $252 million dollars—which clearly, in the case of agriculture, was something of a joke; a few years ago we thought there was probably only one property in the whole of Australia that would have come under that screening process—to a cumulative $15 million. Once again, it is not about stopping investment; it is simply so we know what is happening. As well, from 1 December 2015 a $55 million threshold, based on the value of the investment, will be introduced for direct investments in Australian agribusiness.

The Foreign Acquisition and Takeovers Fees Imposition Bill will introduce fees on foreign investment. Quite frankly, the administration of Australia's foreign investment framework is an expensive business, so this measure does make sense—that administration costs quite a lot of money. Those who are making the application will now have to pay the cost of the administration. That is estimated to represent about $735 million over the forward estimates. It will mean that foreign investors will not have to wait so long—because there will be more resources in the ATO to deal with their issues. To ensure a fair transition, there will be an amnesty period to allow foreign investors to check their compliance so that, if they are in breach, they can avoid penalties. Already the government has required the mandatory divestment of six illegally held properties under this program.

Quite clearly we should know who owns our agricultural land—and the Register of Foreign Ownership of Agricultural Land Bill will enable us to do that. It is an accident of process that, to the best of my knowledge, there is only one state in Australia—and it is your state, Deputy Speaker Vasta—that has a register of foreign ownership. Every other state in Australia, as far as I am aware, simply records the name of the entity rather than whether there is all or part foreign investment involved in it.

A lot of thought went into how to do a register. Initially, the thought was that we would get the states to register, but that does not actually deal with those properties that have already been purchased, wholly or in part, and whether it is a full or partial investment. Obviously it has to be retrospective or we would not know what is already held. It will be run by the Australian Tax Office, the ATO. Foreign investors will be required to give all essential information on their existing holdings and subsequent acquisitions of Australian agriculture land. From July, the ATO started collecting information on all new foreign investments in agriculture for the purpose of the register. That information will obviously include name, contact details of both parties, location and the size of the property. It will be on the legal owners, the foreign entity, to register the correct information about their holdings with the ATO, including the country of origin, their ABN or their Australian company number.

I think it is a common-sense thing for us to know who owns what in our country. This is not to stop them doing so but to ensure that we know. It is quite amazing to note the differences around the world. In America, as far as I can see, each state controls foreign investment and some have carte blanche and some have none. That is within one country. Obviously, we are going to be a little more organised than that, but that is the way they do it. It is not about stopping foreign investment; rather, it is about implementing a more transparent application process. For those who trigger the screening process, it will be on a case-by-case basis. We expect the register to begin making aggregated information on foreign ownership and agricultural land available in the first half of next year, 2016.

As far as foreign investment goes, I am very much in favour of it. Australia needs it. Unfortunately, Australians seem to have something of a problem when it comes to investing in agriculture. Of course, I am not talking about farmers, who obviously invest. But Australian companies seem to have a bit of an issue with investing in their own country agriculturally. We get far more interest from trust funds overseas, particularly in the USA. It is about us talking our country up rather than down, and we, as farmers, do play a role in this. We are very prone to crying wolf sometimes when we should be praising ourselves about how good we are at it and how sought after our own products are around the world—for very good reasons. I am sure the opposition spokesman for agriculture would agree with me on that.

We have a long history as far as foreign investment. Government policies have changed over the years. When I was a young person, more of Australia—in acres—was probably owned by foreigners than is the case today. I am not talking about the value of land but the area of land, particularly in the north. I am sure more of it was owned by non-Australians than Australians. At that time, we were probably talking about English companies—who, in those days, we probably did not even think of as being foreign. So things do change—and they do change a lot. I am in favour of foreign investment. I think that most of us realise the necessity for it, but I think we also realise the necessity to know who is investing and where they are.

I would say to those who are nervous about foreign investment in land that you cannot take land and water with you. As far as the product goes, if Australia is in danger of not having a particular product, at the end of the day, the states control the buying and selling of land but only the Commonwealth can give an export permit for it to leave our country. I am not suggesting that we are about to use those powers but, at the end of the day, we do have the ability to ensure that a commodity does not leave Australia. I welcome foreign investment, but I also welcome the ability for our country to know who it is that is investing, where they are and if it is suitable.

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