Senator Joyce today called on Treasurer Wayne Swan to re think his undermining of the present system of reviewing foreign investments and takeovers.
Mr Swan’s announcement should sound very loud alarm bells to anyone concerned with maintaining Australia’s sovereignty over its resources and business interests given that Mr Swan plans to remove Foreign Investment Review Board supervision of over 20 percent of all business applications currently reviewed by the board.
This effective sidelining of the FIRB relating to a substantial number of applications is deeply troubling as it removes a long standing and much needed level of accountability and transparency of foreign investment in Australia particularly by individual investors from countries such as the Peoples Republic of China.
FIRB has an important role to play in scrutinising foreign investment applications and it allows a single body to keep tabs on emerging patterns or trends in foreign investment to ensure that Australia’s national interest is adequately safeguarded and remains paramount.
While FIRB may rubber stamp many of its applications, its present scrutiny of those applications is better than no scrutiny as proposed by Mr Swan.
It is astounding Mr Swan would seek to punch such a big hole in Australia’s foreign review processes, leaving the back door wide open for foreign interests to buy Australia paddock by paddock, business by business without any accountability to the Australian people.
Unfortunately for Australia each of the announced measures will allow that hole to get bigger to the detriment of Australia’s sovereignty and its national interest.
There is no doubt Australia needs foreign investment but only after proper scrutiny, transparency and accountability by the Foreign Investment Review Board and ultimately by the Federal Treasurer.
Australians expect Mr Swan to have the full picture on foreign investment and to make sure every investment is in the national interest.
The screening arrangements for state owned enterprises remain the same but as we know they were ineffective in the first place.
Mr Swan’s announcement today will not only sideline the Foreign Investment Review Board but will also effectively sideline the Treasurer himself on all foreign investments to be excluded from review.
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