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

We have set up this report. We have gone off to investigate. I think Senator Xenophon should wait for that report to come down. There is no urgency about this issue. If he had a sensible approach to the issue, then he would wait for that report. That report will give us an indication about some of the factors that are currently driving foreign investment in this country.

We know foreign investment under a Labor government is booming in this country. We know other countries want to come and invest in our country. They want to create jobs and they want to build infrastructure. So we know they really do appreciate that Australia is a worthwhile place to invest, but let us examine exactly why they are coming to this country. One of the other things that this report will investigate is the economic impact of foreign investment in Australian agricultural industries and agribusiness. It will review the extent to which similar countries monitor and/or regulate foreign investment in agricultural land. So all of these things are important to the future of Australia's investment climate and all of them should be looked at before we go any further with this bill.