Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Denison for his question. It has been reported that a Supreme Court judge in Victoria has upheld an injunction temporarily halting the sale of Tasmanian dairy business Van Diemen's Land to a foreign buyer. The injunction was brought by an Australian company, TasFoods Ltd, which has reported to the Australian Stock Exchange that a further court hearing will be held on 3 December. Van Diemen's Land has always been in foreign ownership, I am advised, and there are appropriate processes for Australia's foreign investment laws to be upheld and appropriate scrutiny to be applied. The foreign investment rules do provide for Australia's national interest to be protected, and most acquisitions by foreign buyers of agricultural land valued at $15 million or more have to be screened by the Foreign Investment Review Board with the decision ultimately to be taken by the government. In particular, foreign persons must get approval for a proposed acquisition of an interest in agricultural land where the cumulative value of that land owned by the foreign person, including the proposed purchase, is more than $15 million.

In recent days we have seen the passage of further tightenings and appropriate restrictions being placed on how foreign investment is viewed by this government. We take these issues very seriously. We know that Australians put great trust in the Australian government to make decisions about foreign investment and what is allowed and what is not allowed. That is one of the reasons why we have reduced the screening thresholds, particularly as they apply to agricultural land but agribusinesses as well. These changes were opposed by those opposite. I do not know why the changes were opposed; I do not know why those opposite think the Australian people do not want their government to take a close interest in these issues and assess the matters of national interest that apply to them. They had the same view about residential real estate—they were happy for foreign investors to come and buy up residential real estate across the country and have that unchecked. They were happy when they were in government not to put the resources into those issues as well.

See this speech in context