Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Tourism and International Education) Share this | Hansard source

Senator, you would know, or perhaps should know, that there are processes in place that people who come into this country wanting to invest in our agricultural assets—land—and agricultural businesses have to go through. That is why we want to put in place those protections and the thresholds that will give us proper oversight of that. That is the purpose of what we are doing. The Kidman station would very much fall within the framework of what we are proposing to do as a government. I would hope that you would support the amendments we are proposing to put forward very soon in this place. It is important that we go through a proper process to understand that a purchase is in the national interest, and I think we all understand that that is an appropriate thing to do, regardless of which side of politics you might be on. You are right: that station is for sale, and there are a number of parties, as I understand it, who are interested in purchasing it. (Time expired)