Clampdown on foreign investments in Australian assets

Great news!

 

Great initiative and important for national security. I hope they think the application through very carefully.

 

I worry about each country becoming less of a global player and becoming more isolated and protectionist. This would undoubtedly be a poor outcome and quite possibly further fuel the recent reemergence of nationalism!

 

Normally I would disagree with this behavior but this corona is not exactly a normal recessionary scenario.
A lot of well managed companies will fail through no fault of their own.

 

Very warranted in these hard times. And the repatriation of critical industries begins. For an economist terrible news. Comparative advantage blah blah. But I am all for building up some industrial capacity in this country. Not everyone can/should be a lawyer. Happy to pay a little extra too within reason, and yes I know this is hard to actually mandate. It becomes a collective decision of the consumer. The Australian consumer needs to wake up and collectively through purchasing behaviour protect their companies. Can 'Team Australia' do this or will it be everyone for themselves.

 

Well it looks like there is at least five of us thinking the same thing! Well done patriots!

 

We'll just have to agree to disagree.
As long as it doesn't affect our sovereignty, I'm happy for much in this country (and all others) to be globalised. I also strongly oppose things like "Buy Australian". An Australian life isn't worth any more than a Thai one or a Somali one. If anything, shouldn't we buy from poorer countries?
And patriotism is only one step away from nationalism, I'll take it one step further and argue that Americans saying that America is the greatest country in the world, is racist.

 

Yeah your view is fine by me. My view has nothing to do with one peoples being better than another. It comes down to your definition of strategic. It has now clearly been shown that energy, food, shelter down to a N95 face mask that a certain country raided from us in the darkness of night is to me strategic. Yes there should be globalism but it needs to be with trustworthy partners. Money should not be the only consideration in a transaction. Perhaps limited ownership is a solution. Being the only free investment country like being the only carbon free economy. Naivety at its greatest and the country will be taken advantage of.

 

Make it six

 

That seems to be a common line, but most people that use it seem to not do anything to help the less fortunate in our country either. Do you really think that Pauline Hanson cares about people on the dole, single mothers doing it tough or people with substance abuse issues? I'm not implying you're in that category, I'm just making a general point.
To me, just because someone's physical proximity is closer than another person's does not make them more worthy of help.

 

Nothing wrong with looking after your own national interests. If we can’t look after our own population, who will?

The only factory in Australia making face masks is having trouble sourcing the necessary materials from overseas, because (understandably) the country of origin is keeping the supplies for their own use/population.

 

+1

 

Agree, extra measures need to be put in place at the moment.
As for foreign investment in agriculture in general, I think many people form their opinion on this without having seen what actually happens. In most cases that I've witnessed in dealing with them fairly closely, foreign companies have came in and paid too much for the land (bonus for the owner) and then proceed to spend extraordinary amounts of money on improvements which provides employment and boosts local economies. Of course at the price they have paid, none of this is sustainable and after a few years they give up on the idea of being "pastoralists" and usually exit with a loss. I haven't seen a single case where the foreign company has taken the property home with them when they've finished. And in most cases the increased productivity and infrastructure benefits of those properties are transferred to the next , usually Australian owner at a discounted price.
In many cases China in particular have helped drive productivity in agriculture at their own expense.Even the commodities they produce are sold through normal channels in Australia not taken out of the market and exported straight to China.
Where's the downside?

Willy

 

Australia needs to be self-sustainable.

Not even looking to other countries, Australia is doing a terrible job at keeping farms operational and manufacturing within our shores, on just about all fronts Australian politicians are failing the populace.

 

I know of a few cases where Chinese companies are a producer of commodies here in Australia and are also an exporter of those commodities in Australia and a processor of those commodities in China. They are fully intergrated right under our noses but operate each business at arms length the same as any other market participants. Theyre commodities are sold through the normal market in which they are a competitor. Why? Because there is a conflict of interest in buying things cheap when your dealing with your self. I'm also not convinced that they are coming here to profit. In a lot of cases the properties they buy sit there unstocked and unmanaged only to be sold a few years later. Not the actions of a country trying to take over the country's agricultural industry. Some use us to store money outside of China and have no interest in agriculture at all.
When it comes to agriculture they don't know what they're doing and they won't trust us to help them. They will come and go like most other countries have at different times.

Willy