Rural Australia sacrificed to appease foreign interests

January 6, 2012

The Federal Member for Hume, Alby Schultz MP has called on the Gillard Government to impose tough foreign investment legislation immediately to ensure Australia’s food security is guaranteed.

“Who or what controls our precious land resources is a matter of national sovereignty and one that this Government has blatantly ignored,” Alby said.

“The failure of this Government to generate a timely response to the avalanche of foreign ownership requests to acquire vast slices of our agricultural sector is disturbing and must be addressed immediately,” Alby added.

Mr Schultz pointed to his speech to Parliament in June 2011 in which he stated that all Australians should be rightly concerned about our nation’s food security.

“The output of our agriculture industry equated to $24.5 billion dollars in 2009-10 of which 60% is generated in the export of produce,” Alby said.

“The link between concern about global food shortages and the increase in sovereign wealth funds of foreign countries gobbling up our agriculture sector is undoubtable.

“Concern is growing in international circles that a global food shortage is imminent: it is estimated by the Food and Agriculture Organisation that 925 million people are already struggling for food.

“Coupled with the predicted explosion in global population from the current 6.9 billion people to 9 billion by 2050, nations such as China are attempting to secure unfettered access to food bowls across the globe, including Australia, as a matter of ensuring their own survival in the face of the predicted food shortage crisis.

“If there was a coordinated and reasoned approach to the current rules regarding Foreign Investment approvals, I would not be so concerned. But the Government is simply not standing up for our national interest.

“The threshold level to be considered a ‘foreign investor’ in Australia is $231 million, compared with New Zealand where Government consent before a foreign investment can proceed is required if the property exceeds 5 hectares.

“Recently, Hassad Foods which is owned by the Qatari Government has bought more than 8,000 hectares in Victoria’s Western district, on top of a purchase for 2,500 hectares of farming land in Victoria the year before.

“The current Foreign Investment legislation is woefully inadequate and fails to protect our national interest in food security, particularly the ill-defined national interest test.
It is outrageous that Patrick Colmer, the Executive Member of the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIR) and a senior Treasury official stated, and I quote “the way that the legislation is set up is that the default position is that the investment is allowed to proceed.”

“The abandoning of our agriculture sector to foreign interests is only one example of the litany of policy disappointments this Government has subjected rural and regional Australia to.

“We have honey bees exposed to foreign diseases; the apple industry preparing for the worst as apples with Fireblight are given the green light to enter Australian markets.

“Each and every time this Government has been faced with making tough decisions to defend our national food security, it has chosen to appease foreign interests rather than stand up for Australia’s national interest.” Alby concluded.