Agricultural Competitiveness Green Paper
This is a submission by the Business Law Section of the Law Council of Australia (the BLS) in response to the Agricultural Competitiveness Green Paper issued by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in October this year (Green Paper).
The BLS formed a working party to consider the regulation of foreign investment in Australia in late 2013. Members of the working party comprise lawyers who have many years’ experience dealing with the regulatory regime.
Section 6 of the Green Paper addresses foreign investment. Among other things, the Department says in section 6 that:
The Government seeks views on options to better promote, and concentrate on, productive new greenfield investment that creates new assets, substantially adds value to an existing asset or positively changes the nature of that asset.
The BLS recognises the merits of foreign investment in the agricultural sector as well as the community concern that such investment attracts. The reduction of the review threshold to $15 million (and the cumulative approach to the threshold) will ensure that the Foreign Investment Review Board will scrutinise more investment in the sector ensuring that proposals are consistent with Australia’s national interest. In all but a few cases the investment would be expected to be approved.
Read the full submission below.
Last Updated on 14/03/2025
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