The Coalition and Greens have jointly initiated a Senate inquiry into foreign investment in Australia's agricultural land.

 

The Rural Affairs and Tansport Committee will investigate how the Foreign Investment Review Board’s ‘national interest test’ has been applied to agricultural land and agribusiness purchases by foreign compaies, foreign sofereign funds and other entities in the past twelve months.

 

The inquiry will also examine the role of the Government, regulators and receivers, including their obligations under the Corporations Act 2001 and/or the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975, including the role of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, in upholding the test.

 

The Committee will report to the Government by 30 November 2011.

 

The Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, in collaboration with ABARES, were also requested by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Joe Ludwig and the Assistant Treasurer, Bill Shorten in November 2010 to investigate the level of foreign ownership in rural land and agri-businesses in Australia.

 

Senator Ludwig has also initiated the development of a National Food Plan taking into account global and local forces such as world population growth, limited natural resources, climate change, skills shortages and international trade. The National Food Plan Issues paper is available at www.daff.gov.au/nfp and open for submissions until 5 August 2011.

 

"The Government doesn't oppose the Coalition's senate inquiry into this important issue, but as I said in November, we simply don't have a complete set of numbers about the extent of foreign ownership of rural land and agri-businesses in Australia. Before we start leaping to conclusions, let's get all the facts on the table so we can then consider in detail further policy reforms," Mr Shorten said.

 

The Government has requested the Treasury Department to come up with a range of options to address community concerns and the long-term interests of Australia, subject to the research findings.