- Target:
- Federal and State Governments
- Region:
- Australia
- Website:
- www.ausbuy.com.au
We have a “For Sale” Sign on our wealth creating assets (our non renewable energy resources, our farms and our businesses). This means Australia does not get the benefit of these assets as our tax laws favour foreign companies and countries. Our high interest rates are locking Australians out.
We keep no register of the sale of our land or businesses. The FIRB thresholds for land or businesses are $244M for all countries except the USA which is $1001M before Governments count the cost, whereas some of our governments do count if foreign interests buy an apartment in a city. Put simply these high FIRB AUD$ thresholds do not meet the national interest test.
The excuse is we cannot do this because of Free Trade Agreements. FTAs cover the sale of goods and services not the sale of land and businesses.
We are concerned about the sale of our land to foreign countries and companies, especially those countries which do not reciprocate the opportunity. China, the Arab States, India and USA are buying our land for their use. They are also allowed to buy businesses beyond the farm gate which means our farmers are price takers not price makers, and we do not get the full benefit of our exports.
The countries buying our land have long recognised the importance of food security, yet for successive decades our policy decisions have forced our farmers off their land. This is an issue of national importance.
New Zealand recently applied the national interest test to stop the sale of eight dairy farms to the Chinese as the assets would no longer be used in the interests of New Zealand citizens.
We are not saying no to foreign investment, but we do want Australia to have controlling interest in assets which are necessary to Australia's long term security and prosperity. We are concerned how we will pay off our debt if these assets are working for other countries and companies not to the benefit of Australia.
see www.ausbuy.com.au Time to Wake Up Australia for more background information.
We want an immediate moratorium on the sale of our wealth creating assets (our land and strategic businesses), until a clear definition of "the national interest test" is established for Australia.
As concerned Australians we want to be part of the discussion which impacts our future for generations to come.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Selling our land is not in our national interest petition to Federal and State Governments was written by AUSBUY and is in the category National Affairs at GoPetition.