Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australians are very concerned about key assets being sold to Chinese companies. I want to remind the government about the reasons for these concerns before the Treasurer rubber stamps any more sales to China. Chinese companies' relationships with the Chinese government are not like private sector companies' relationships with governments in the West. We know this because the owners of these Chinese companies tell us this is the case. In 2016, the government approved the sale of Darwin Port to Landbridge. Mr Ye, representing the company, said the Darwin Port investment was good for the company and served China's foreign policy goal, known as One Belt, One Road. We asked a firm representation Landbridge for evidence of the economic basis for that investment but nothing was forthcoming. The purchase of Darwin Port adds to the number of ports acquired by the Chinese government under its 'string of pearls' strategy.

I now want to move onto food security and the dairy industry. In 2016, the government agreed to the sale of the milk processer and dairy conglomerate Van Diemen's Land Company to the Chinese owned Moon Lake. Conditions were placed on that sale but to date those conditions have not been met, and the government is doing nothing to enforce them. The lack of action by the government casts doubt on whether any conditions placed on the sale of critical Australian assets are worth the paper they're written on.

This year, Mengniu, the company part-owned by the Chinese communist government has offered to buy Bellamy's and Lion drinks and dairy with brands including Dairy Farmers, Pura, Farmers Union and Big M. These sales will make a Hong Kong based company with deep ties to the Chinese government one of four largest milk processors in Australia. And it is not only dairy farmers who will be affected but also the Australian distribution companies, which could be replaced by Chinese ones. As it stands, the government does not require companies to meet domestic demand before exporting. This means there is nothing to stop Mengniu leaving Australia short of milk. Given Australian fresh milk sells for 10 to 15 times more in China than the price here, it's quite possible that we will see that happen.

The Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 provides the legislative framework for foreign investment in Australia. Private foreign investors are required to seek prior government approval before acquiring up to 15 per cent in a corporation or control of a business valued above $248 million at 2013 prices and indexed annually. Foreign governments have a zero asset base price threshold, but in practice it makes no difference to the outcome because all but a handful of applications to buy Australian assets have been denied. Free trade agreements lift the thresholds, with the result that an increasing number of sales happen without the need for government approval. Our government, the Liberals and the Nationals, have no problem with China purchasing our assets, property and essential services. Labor will be less restrictive because they want to raise the threshold by millions. The truth is that in the past decade the Foreign Investment Review Board has approved all but a handful of applications. It makes little difference whether foreign government owned entities apply to purchase critical Australian assets or whether foreign companies apply, because the result is the same: approved. Years ago, people talked about Australia as the 51st state of the United States, but today talk is about Australia as the 24th province of China.

I now want to talk about the potential sale of another critical asset to China. Not all of the story is known yet, but it looks to be like a sequel to 'Timorgate'. In the original story, Australia put listening devices in the rooms of Timorese negotiators, and, once that conduct became public, a dispute arose between our two countries. That dispute was settled with a treaty between Australia and the Democratic Republic of Timor which came into force on 19 August 2019. The sequel to 'Timorgate' began in July 2019 when an Australian ship anchored in the Timor Sea was served with a prohibition notice by NOPSEMA, the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority. The prohibition notice required the Northern Endeavour to cease oil production within 24 hours. Based on the facts available, an improvement notice should have been issued by NOPSEMA to the operator of the Northern Endeavour, rather than a shutdown order. There ought to be a Senate inquiry into the actions of NOPSEMA, because they have overreached their authority. The question arises as to why the government would now resist replacing the prohibition order with an improvement notice and get this Australian oil producer back in production and paying taxes.

Here are a few facts. In 2019, the ship was given a class certificate by Lloyd's verifying the soundness of the hull. A proposal to verify the soundness of the production facility had been rejected, but no alternative was suggested. A four-kilogram object found on the deck in June triggered the prohibition notice. No-one knows where this four-kilogram object came from and no-one saw the object fall. It may have been placed on the deck. The object disappeared before fingerprints could be taken. No-one from NOPSEMA visited the ship after the self-reporting of the four-kilogram object on the deck or before the issuing of the prohibition notice. The owner of the ship had a history of cooperation and had complied with all repair requests. The Northern Endeavour is a purpose-built ship that acts as a floating oil production and storage platform. It is owned by Northern Oil and Gas of Australia. As a result of the government's plan, NOGA has been put into administration. The administrator has received an offer from a Chinese company for the Northern Endeavour, the oil leases and the assets on Timor, including a lease over the airport on the southern side of Timor. Why is the government sending NOGA out of business when it paid approximately $320 million in taxes over three years and can provide oil to Australia? None of the original actions by NOPSEMA make sense; nor does Minister Canavan's resistance to reviewing the situation. In fact, the minister is gleeful about the prospect of winding up the company and seeing 250 Australian jobs lost.

Now, we have to ask the question: who benefits? The answer to that requires us to understand Australia's plans for the Greater Sunrise oil and gas field, which is shared with Timor. Australia wants the hydrocarbons to be processed in Australia, but Timor wants it to be done on their south coast. Quite simply, it doesn't suit the government to have an Australian company successfully operating in Timor, because it strengthens the case for production to be done on the south coast of Timor.

The government has wanted to talk about integrity for weeks but will not look at its own. The government relies on the member for Chisholm, Gladys Liu—as Chinese owned—who has reportedly been investigated by ASIO for her links to the Chinese communist party. More recently, ASIO has been investigating reports of a Chinese plot to install an agent in the federal parliament.

Australians have concerns about the way Chinese owned companies operate in Australia, and for good reason. In the past two years, nine Chinese companies have been delisted from the Australian stock exchange for governance reporting, failure to pay dividends and failure to spend funds as outlined in the prospectus. The companies delisted included Wolf Petroleum, Mandalong Resources and China Dairy Corporation. I recognise that China is our most important trading partner, but we need to bring in new rules around foreign investment and influence. The government could start with the principle of reciprocity. For example, in Italy you cannot buy property unless you come from a country which permits Italians to own their property. We have about 10 million homes in Australia, and 500,000 are owned by Chinese foreign nationals. They are acquiring homes and units at the rate of 50,000 a year.

We need to investigate what is happening with the Northern Endeavour in the Timor Sea. I believe they were hard done by by NOPSEMA. During my Senate estimates inquiry into it, NOPSEMA couldn't answer the questions. Minister Canavan needs to come clean with this because, as far as I'm concerned, something stinks with what is going on here. They want to shut down an Australian company that is paying taxes, yet we have the resources of our gas being taken off the North West Shelf by foreign investors to the tune of $54 billion a year—and they pay only $400 million in tax. Why is the government intent on not giving an improvement notice to this company? Like I said, I don't believe everything is above board. Here we have an Australian company, and probably the one that will give fuel security for Australia, yet we are not doing everything we can to ensure that it keeps the licence up there. They're looking at selling it to a Chinese company. This is oil that is much needed for the country. It holds another eight to 10 years plus in oil supply, which Australia very much needs.