Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government and the Minister for Agriculture are to be congratulated in their efforts to develop an accurate and effective foreign ownership register for agricultural land, as promised in the 2013 coalition election campaign. This is a very important issue in the Forrest electorate and to the agriculture sector across Australia. I am very well aware of how important this is because the Forrest division has raised this issue repeatedly with the broader Liberal Party. It is great to see those calls being responded to by the coalition in government.

Of course, both domestic and foreign investment are vital to Australian agriculture and future opportunities. Much of the agricultural development historically in WA has happened as a direct result of foreign investment. If we are really to take advantage of the potential growth that is available in Asia in the 21st century, foreign investment will be a key part of that. However, as a sovereign nation, it is essential to know how much foreign investment there actually is. We do not oppose foreign investment—in fact, we encourage it. However, we need to know when and where it is happening. The purpose of the Foreign Ownership Register for Agricultural Land is to increase transparency—the one thing that will give far greater confidence is an increase in transparency—and to provide accurate information to the community and to policymakers in general.