From the AFR:
Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce has said the decision by the West Australian government to allow Chinese conglomerate Shanghai Zhongfu the right to develop stage two of the Ord irrigation scheme in the state’s north highlights the lack of scrutiny of foreign investment in farmland.
The decision has reportedly been approved by WA Regional Development Minister Brendon Grylls, who is the leader of the WA Nationals, and who has argued previously that the investment was “not about buying the farm”, but about building it.
…Senator Joyce said it was time that the Foreign Investment Review Board admitted it did not seriously review foreign investment in agricultural land.
“The FIRB never say no and in this case it seems they may not even be asked,” Senator Joyce told the Australian Financial Review.
What is the big deal with this? What is wrong with foreign investment into agriculture? We’ve had 200 years to create an agricultural powerhouse and have basically failed. We don’t have one single Fonterra.
Give foreign money a go. Let ’em build the farm and build our export base too. Ensure we collect the tax revenues from it and, if we end up at war some day, nationalise the bastard.
Other than the gut feeling that it’s ours, where’s the downside?
