Dick Adams (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition are in disarray: they bring motions to the parliament which they claim to be important but cannot organise speakers to speak on those motions. That shows the level of support they have in thinking about a vision for the future of agriculture in Australia, as my honourable friend the previous speaker has said. I hope the member for Calare has discovered who the responsible minister is that he is directing the motion to, because when I looked at his motion that seemed to be something else that he did not understand.

I am aware there are some community concerns, as you would be, Mr Deputy Speaker Sidebottom, regarding foreign investment in Australian agricultural land and businesses. Australia has well-established arrangements under which foreign investments are examined. This is not something that just happens. The Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 empowers the Treasurer to examine all significant investment proposals in Australian businesses by foreign interests to ensure they are not contrary to the Australian national interest. Based on those examinations, the Treasurer can reject or impose conditions on proposals that are considered to be contrary to Australia’s national interests. That is as it should be. All foreign governments, their agencies or state owned enterprises must notify the Foreign Investment Review Board and receive an approval before making a direct investment in Australia, whether it is for $1 or $1 billion. The government has already made important improvements in the foreign investment framework that are very much in the national interest.

When you look at the supply chain in agricultural industries you will see that there is a lot of foreign money in that supply chain. As you would be aware, Mr Deputy Speaker, National Foods had some difficulties with its suppliers in the milk industry in Tasmania a year or so ago. A Japanese company with Japanese capital took over that company, and they are going through other changes. I wish them well in that and I hope they continue to invest in our milk industry, in processing, in Tasmania because we need that capital. You cannot expand without capital in your supply chain.

I do not know if Mr Cobb is saying that we do not need any foreign investment in any of our industries. Go and have a look at the car industry. Go and have a look at our mining industry. We raise capital from all over the world; that is how our systems work. So it is difficult to see where Mr Cobb is coming from, other than just trying to make a political point, I suppose, around National Party branch meetings and stirring up some of their members out in the bush to say that the country is going to be overrun by foreign money.

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