Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water) Share this | Hansard source

If I have incorrectly asserted that Senator Xenophon's proposal was to reduce the figure from $231 million to $1, I do withdraw that suggestion. I thought he was indicating that that was what China did, and Senator Milne appeared to suggest that I was proposing that to the Senate. But we have now clarified that point.

A number of important statistics released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics make clear the situation with foreign ownership in Australia. Senator Cormann referred to these figures earlier, in his contribution to this debate. The first of those important figures is that 99 per cent of all agricultural businesses in Australia are entirely Australian owned. So we are dealing with this bill in circumstances where 99 per cent of all agricultural businesses in Australia are currently Australian owned. Only 0.6 per cent have greater than 50 per cent foreign ownership—