A new poll by the Lowy Institute has revealed that Australians have become increasingly opposed to selling agricultural land to foreigners. From The ABC:
The poll showed that 87 per cent of respondents were against the Federal Government allowing foreign companies to buy Australian agricultural land — six percentage points higher than a similar survey four years ago.
The Lowy Institute also said the proportion of people in favour of overseas ownership has fallen from 18 per cent to 11 per cent.
“Our 2016 results show that foreign investment in agricultural land has become increasingly unpopular, suggesting it will remain a politically fraught issue,” said Dr Michael Fullilove, executive director of the Lowy Institute…
In my view, the inherent problem with Australia’s foreign investment regime is that it doesn’t properly distinguish between genuine investment and the transfer of ownership whereby no real investment (capital deepening) takes place.
Genuine foreign investment, such as the building of factories and infrastructure, adds to the nation’s productive capacity and employment, and should be encouraged. By contrast, merely transferring ownership of an existing asset to foreign interests is akin to “selling the family jewels”. It does nothing to improve the economy and living standards, and should be discouraged.
Unfortunately, too much “foreign investment” in Australia is really just “foreign ownership”. And much of it involves not just our farms, but our established homes as well as our essential infrastructure assets.
I am particularly concerned by the surge of Chinese “investment” following the China FTA. There is the real risk that the Chinese will vertically integrate entire food production processes in Australia – purchasing our farms as well as the whole distribution and logistics production line – and then import temporary labour from China under the FTA to work on its farms. If such instances eventuate, then Australians would be cut-out completely from the whole food export business, and in turn cut-out from the economic benefits.
If we are not careful, Australians risk becoming tenants and serfs in our own country.
