Ross Hampton
The Australian Forest Products Association has become the latest industry group to back the current foreign investment laws, cautioning the government not to jeopardise the flow of overseas capital into regional agribusinesses. Source: The Australian
AFPA chief executive Ross Hampton said under the existing regime overseas buyers “have been welcome and added enormously to our ability to upscale our industry and take advantage of strong international demand for forest fibre products’’.
“New owners have introduced new management strategies, new technology and led to improved efficiency of operations,’’ he said.
“Although these operations have overseas owners, they are Australian-registered companies, managed and run by Australians.
“They support more than 4200 direct jobs in plantation management, harvesting and haulage, with a further 40,000 flow-on jobs at sawmills, woodchip export facilities and timber product manufacturers.
“They also pay Australian taxes and make a significant contribution to the rural communities in which they operate.”
Mr Hampton’s comments come amid industry concerns over the impact of lower foreign investment review thresholds being planned by the government.
The Coalition went to the 2013 election promising to impose a $15 million Foreign Investment Review Board threshold for the purchase by foreigners of agricultural land and $55m for agribusiness, down from $252m.
But the Australian Food and Grocery Council last week warned that tougher foreign investor rules risked sending investment in the food processing and manufacturing sector overseas, with up to half of the industry potentially affected by the new regime.
Speaking at the National Press Club, Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce said the government’s changes to FIRB guidelines were not designed to discourage foreign investment in regional areas. The lower thresholds did not knock out overseas purchases but fed the desire for more information on what was going on.
Mr Hampton said with more than $3 billion of investment over the past five years, which had – secured jobs and provided opportunities for growth, the forestry and forest products sector was a case study of the positive role foreign capital can play in rural Australia.
“The US, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Norway and Sweden have all made significant capital investments across the entire forestry and forest products value chain,’’ he said.
