'We back our own': Coalition backs Gina Rinehart's bid for Kidman

Under the conditional deal Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting will own 67 per cent of the Kidman cattle portfolio and Chinese conglomerate Shanghai CRED will buy 33 per cent.

CRED is headed by Gui Guojie, a lead bidder in last rejected offer for Kidman and a sponsor of the Port Adelaide AFL team. 

Mr Corman said it would be "great" if there was majority Australian control, as proposed under the deal. 

Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie said the bid was a "positive step" and Australia should 'back our own'.

"I think it's always positive that we back our own. As Australians we back ourselves in particularly in those areas of industry and economic development that are in regional Australia so it's a positive step forward.

"But obviously it has to still go through the appropriate processes," she said. 

The offer is conditional on Australian foreign investment approval, regulatory approvals from China and the sale of the Anna Creek station to other Australian grazing interests. If successful, that is expected to take about six weeks.

The Kidman portfolio makes up around 1.3 per cent of Australia's land mass.

Senator Nick Xenophon said the deal was a positive move but Australia's foreign investment framework was still too ambiguous and the government needed to adopt some of New Zealand's policies.

"We still need to have fundamental reforms of our foreign investment framework. The current rules are as clear as mud and as weak as water.

"We need a more robust approach. And that robust approach needs to involve what the New Zealanders do in terms fo foreign investment frameworks with much greater transparency," he said. 

This story first appeared on The Australian Financial Review