Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today.

However, my own remarks will focus on the question of foreign investment in agriculture. What we saw today in the answer provided by Senator Sinodinos was the glaring inconsistency within the coalition about the approach to the agricultural sector—one of the most important sectors in terms of Australia's economy in the next couple of decades. Senator Sinodinos quite correctly points out that Australia, historically, over many hundreds of years, has been dependent on investment from overseas sources to supplement our own savings. Senator Sinodinos will be aware, I think, that there are few sectors where this is more important than in the agricultural sector. The National Farmers' Federation themselves have estimated that $1.2 to $1.5 trillion would be needed to realise the potential for this sector over the next 35 years.

We understand that this potential derives from the ability to expand our export sector to a very hungry market to our north. There are already 250 million people who are identified as being part of China's middle class, and that number is set to grow exponentially. As that grows the demand for food and fibre products will also grow exponentially as the middle class seek to improve their circumstances and their wealth. The opportunities for Australia in that context are absolutely enormous.

When sensible people in the business community here are thinking about our future, it is frequently the agricultural sector that they point to. In just one example, last year a Business Council of Australia report about Australia's competitive advantage pointed to the agricultural sector and to the food manufacturing sector as areas where Australia has the opportunity to be a global winner. In that environment, investment will be absolutely critical. There is absolutely no way, as the Farmers' Federation has acknowledged, that this can be met within Australia's savings pool.

So what is very puzzling is the stance taken by the government on this question, as evidenced by the responses today to questions from Senator Wong. There is no clarity about the role that this government anticipates for foreign investors in the agricultural sector. We see that in legislation we imagine will come before this place shortly that seeks to establish different tests and different thresholds, depending on the origin of the funds. There is absolutely no public policy rationale for a decision of this kind.

In his remarks today Senator Sinodinos pointed to the importance of scrutiny, to the importance of the Foreign Investment Review Board, in providing confidence to agricultural communities. We support that. We support the FIRB and we support its role. We support, indeed, the idea that the FIRB might focus its attentions on sensitive sectors. What we do not understand is the distinction that is made not on the sector itself but on the origin of the funds. So, the proposal to introduce a differential test, depending on whether the funds come from China, from Singapore, from the USA or from Chile, is not grounded in a sensible public policy rationale but instead speaks simply to a blinkered view from those opposite about the future of agriculture in this country.

I will digress briefly to make the point that after a long debate about the Chinese free trade agreement, where we on this side sought to stand up for the rights of Australian workers, to have their jobs put first in any decision about importing skilled labour, it is particularly galling to see the government now move to implement a completely baseless approach to foreign investment in Australian agriculture. It is disappointing that Senator Sinodinos would not repudiate the remarks by Senator Williams around selling what the land grows and not the land, because this kind of simple reduction of the challenge for us in finding appropriate levels of investment in the agricultural sector does not do anyone any good. It does not serve the agriculture sector well, it does not serve country people well and it does not serve the country well.