THE controversial sale of Australia's biggest dairy farming operation, the Van Dieman's Land Company (VDL), to a Chinese billionaire Lu Xianfeng late last year has prompted The Greens to refer details of the deal to the Senate Economics References Committee inquiry into the Foreign Investment Review Framework.
Greens finance spokesperson for Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said the party would seek submissions and details from a range of stakeholders around potential concerns.
The VDL November sale for $280 million to the Mr Lu's Australian-registered business, Moon Lake, came just as Australian-base company TasFoods thought it had secured a $250m deal to buy the nation's biggest milking operation based at Woolnorth in North West Tasmania.
VDL has an 18,000 cow herd, 23 milking sheds and 140 employees and was established in the early 1800s.
VDL had been owned by the New Plymouth District Council in New Zealand, which claimed the last minute Moon Lake deal was superior to TasFoods' offer of $250m, plus shares.
"The Greens support socially and environmentally sustainable investment that secures local jobs and delivers economic benefits to the Tasmanian community," Senator Whish-Wilson said.
"Concerns over food security and shortages of supply, foreign workers displacing local jobs and other strategic concerns such as any loss of intellectual property should always be thoroughly examined by the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) process.
"The Greens recently achieved significant parliamentary reform to tighten the FIRB thresholds for scrutiny of foreign purchases such as VDL, and we were the only political party to vote against the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement because of real concerns over the loss of local jobs with increasing foreign investment.
"We take these issues seriously, but they must be approached in a balanced and sensible manner.
The sale of VDL to Moon Lake is currently being reviewed by FIRB.
TasFoods chairman, Rob Woolley said his company's proposed purchase had a groundswell of interest from Australian, and particularly, Tasmanian investors.
In December the company continued its fight in the Victorian Supreme Court claiming it felt "seriously misled" by the altered sale process, although Mr Rob Woolley said it appeared unlikely the company would be able to buy VDL.
Andrew Marshall
National agribusiness writer for Fairfax Agricultural Media.
National agribusiness writer for Fairfax Agricultural Media.
