Amended foreign investment rules affected Australian agro-industry: BCA

The Business Council of Australia (BCA) has claimed that the government’s scheme to make the screening process less strict for overseas investment in the agricultural sector has discouraged foreigners from investing in Australia.

Australia was not as “open for business,” the BCA criticised former Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s mantra in its report published on Tuesday. The report illustrated the plan of the council to enhance global competitiveness as far as Australian agro industry was concerned.

Therefore, BCA has requested the government to reconsider the foreign investment rules and make sure it is stricter than before. It has also urged in its report to spend money for coordinated branding and utilise $1 trillion required to grow the agricultural and food processing sector of the nation by 2050. There are a total of 18 recommendations in the report, two of which focus on increasing the productivity of Australian businesses.

“The government should remove Foreign Investment Review Board thresholds for agricultural land and agribusinesses, and restore thresholds to the same level as other sectors of the economy,” BCA chief executive Jennifer Westacott said in a statement.

“The sector also needs government to facilitate the creation of efficient market structures that will support Australian businesses to align their production to meet the needs of customers. The Productivity Commission inquiry into regulation in agriculture should look at these issues across the entire supply chain.”

On the contrary, Federal Agricultural Minister Barnaby Joyce commented on the criticism, saying Australia’s agriculture sector has witnessed more foreign investments after the government’s decision of making the screening process easier. “They are still lined up out the street wanting to buy,” Australian Financial Review quoted him as saying.

“Our shareholder is the Australian on the street and they have said over and over again, especially with farmland, they want proper reviews because they see this as indelibly what is Australia.”

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