Australia needs to come up with a more positive approach to attracting foreign investments in land and agriculture, a leading Asia-Pacific agribusiness expert said Friday.
Greg Quinn, director of PPB Advisory, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that Australia was sending "mixed messages" about foreign investment, after Treasurer Scott Morrison last year announced he would block the sale of Australia's largest private landholding Kidman and Co to an international buyer.
Quinn said Australia needs to look to New Zealand and how it approaches foreign investment to entice more positive overseas investment. "In New Zealand they view it as a positive test, so effectively they ask 'will this investment into New Zealand farmland or agribusinesses have a positive impact on the country?'," Quinn said on Friday. "Australia has a negative test essentially saying 'will this investment have a negative impact on the national interest?'"
Quinn said if Australia adopted New Zealand's positive approach, it would attract more investment to the Australia/New Zealand region, as there would be a uniform policy across both nations. "(The differing policies) are providing mixed messages in terms of the region," he said. "A lot of global foreign investors, whether from the US or China, just see Australia and New Zealand as one region. "Having two different messages and two different systems can create doubt over them about where they invest and how they invest. "
Quinn added that the Australian government was too indecisive when it comes to approving foreign investment, and drew upon the sale of Kidman and Co - which has dragged on for 11 months - as an example.
"(The government) can't let things continue to drag on for three to six to 18 months because that creates big issues for the bidding parties, and (creates) doubts about whether they will head into due diligence in the future and spend costs," Quinn said. "So the decision-making process needs to become a lot more decisive and there needs to be clearer messaging around that as well."
Latest comments