National interest not on Labor’s radar on Australia Day
26/01/12
The Hon. John Cobb MP
Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Food Security
Whilst Australians gather to celebrate our national day, the Gillard Government has failed to put our national interest first, increasing the reporting threshold for foreign investment of agricultural land and agribusiness from $231 million to $244 million (http://www.firb.gov.au/content/policy.asp?NavID=1), Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Food Security John Cobb said today.
“This is the clearest demonstration yet that Agriculture is not even on the radar of this government and to think these revelations have come about during the week of our annual Australia Day celebrations,” said Mr Cobb.
“This is hot on the heels of the Government’s release of the ABARE report last week that disregarded the very issues needing closer examination and failed to improve the knowledge on who owns what in our own backyard.
“In a “Clayton’s” attempt to pretend they are doing something, all Labor could do was say ‘although we don't know very much about this, we're going to report to you more often about what we don't know'.
“The sad thing is Gillard’s Labor government and her agriculture minister are so unaware of regional and rural issues they probably haven’t even woken up to the fact that agricultural land is now even further out of reach from the Foreign Investment Review Board’s game-keeping.
“They also seem unaware this is not just a regional issue - Australians are generally worried about selling off the farm.
“The Coalition remains deeply concerned about this issue and we will announce our policy in coming months.
“We need real data about the levels of foreign ownership of farm land and agribusiness, so the government can monitor foreign buy-outs and adjust policy settings when foreign control is not in Australia’s national interests.
“It was obvious that the $231 million trigger before the FIRB weighs in was clearly out of step with reality and now the $244 million just defies logic.
“There is no doubt that foreign investment has been, and will remain, vital for the development of agriculture in Australia, but we need the information and policy controls to make necessary adjustments if this investment runs contrary to Australia’s national interests.”