So fat Chinese babies have secured their formula milk from Australia.
The Chinese have just bought 25 dairy farms from dairy giant Van Diemen’s Land Company (VDL) in Tasmania. With 17,000 odd hectares of prime dairy country, with 30,000 dairy cows producing 100 million litres of fresh milk for Australians every year, VDL is Australia’s biggest dairy.
Chinese velly happy. Milk supply secured for ever! No more raids of formula milk through Aussie supermarkets to airfreight back to motherland.
Baby Formula Gang in action in Woolworths at Westfield Burwood (ethnic Chinese Sydney)
Now all gone to powered milk for infant formula to fat chinese babies. Chinese can have two now – One-Child-Policy lifted since 2013. Tassie milk go direct to Shanghai.
“Need more formula!”
Australia’s current Liberal Party Treasurer, Scott Morrison, has unilaterally signed off on the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) approval to sell off VDL for $280 million to the Chinese.
VDL produces 10% of Tasmania’s fresh milk. So now will Tasmanians soon have to rely increasingly on long life milk shipments from the mainland? It spells a loss of Australian dairy wealth and future supply of our fresh milk. That’s not proper governance of Australia’s vital agricultural wealth. That’s unicorn governance in the airy fairy land of Chairman Mal’s agile disruption.
And the Foreign Board has form. It approves all land sales to all foreigners. It is globalist.
Everything in Australia for sale!
In fact the reason it gave for the approval was because it didn’t want to upset potential reciprocal export opportunities for Australian corporates in China. That’s not a valid nor fair justification. That’s political ideology called ‘free trade liberalisation‘, singing for the Liberal Party agenda.
It well exceeded its own threshold. Since late last year a $15 million approval threshold has been in place for agricultural land, and a $55 million threshold for foreign investment in agribusiness. The foreign Chinese buyer of VDL is one chinaman from Ningbo paying $280 million.
Go figure!
Chinese interpretation of the Foreign Review Investment Board
Independent Senator Nick Xenophon says the sale is “Wrong, wrong wrong. This is Australia’s biggest dairy with huge potential in local hands to expand and provide premium dairy products to Australia and the world.”
“This lost opportunity shows how the current national interest test is as clear as mud and virtually meaningless.” he said.
The Foreign Board is foreign in outlook and so needs to be sacked for fundamental breach, flawed reasoning, political bias,and for being treacherously anti-Australian. Treasurer Scott Morrison needs to be sacked for the same reasons and for unicorn incompetence. Morrison could have easily used his legislative powers to stop the sale in order to protect Australia’s limited Prime Agricultural Land and in defence of Australia’s food security in the national interest.
It would have been better use of Scott Morrison’s time as Treasurer this week instead of wasting time playing politics with Senate preference swapping and his Commonwealth Electoral Amendment Bill 2016.
Unicorn Scotty, news for ya! Governments stay in power when the people trust you, not by tinkering with the numbers before elections.
That’s what Gillard infamously did, you Liberal unicorn!
Now what are the consequences for Australia? China owns another large chunk of Australia’s prime agricultural land. Most of our continent is desert. China will direct the fresh milk to its own Chinese back in China, converting it to powdered formula milk for its resurging population.
Liberal Era of Unicorn Governance – like base jumping but only considering the style of the leap. What landing?
China sees our lands of plenty and buys them.
At the same time, why did Scott Morrison ignore and reject Australia’s businesswoman Jan Cameron’s rival bid for the same amount?
Cameron wanted to keep VDL and Australian dairy in Australian hands for the Australian people. She was prepared to put her own money up front. Similarly was Rob Woolley’s TasFoods company. It’s called Australian national pride, Morry you unicorn!
There has never been a more existing time to be an Australian. Unicorns eat rainbows, and frolic through strawberry fields forever. Greens wacky leader Richard di Natale knows all about unicorns from his inner Sydney contacts. He wants to decriminalise marijuana, ecstasy, ICE so that more young Australians can see unicorns and vote Green. Then the Greens will kumbayah with the Libs in a double dissolution and rejoice in crystal Narnia tripping in the sun at Nimbin.
And where’s Nationals fearless leader Barnaby Joyce. Missing in action? Witness protection? The Nats are always Liberal Party lapdogs, always were always will be. The Libs have only used the Nats to door knock the rural seats for them at election time and to lobby corporate miners for revenue royalties.
VDL was owned by Australia’s neighbour New Zealand because of similar farm selling to foreigners by previous governments back in 1842. We haven’t learned much. It should have always been Australian-owned and operated.
Now it is owned by Chinese businessman Lu Xianfeng through his private company Moon Lake Investments, based in Perth. But Lu Xianfeng is a Chinese national from Ningbo (part of sprawling Shanghai). Lu Xianfeng also owns Ningbo Xianfeng New Material Co Ltd which manufactures manufacture of screen fabrics. He has no farming knowledge or experience.
According to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia, there is $1.84 trillion of our money invested in superannuation funds. That is $1,840,000,000,000. You would like to think that with that sort of capital floating around combined with Australians’ innate sense of loyalty, we wouldn’t have any problem finding domestic investors for agricultural enterprises, wouldn’t you?
Many Australian superannuants would be proud to have had indirect share investments in quality agricultural wealth like Cubbie Station and Kidman cattle stations rather than seeing Australia lose our agricultural wealth to foreign ownership, control and profit.
Farming and associated rural services contribute up to 12% of Australian GDP as a result of world leading farm management expertise, and a vast amount of prime arable land. Agriculture plays an important role within both the Australian and the world economy.
There are unique features of Australia’s position in the global environment, meaning a significant opportunity lies in the ownership of Australian agricultural land. These features include Low Geopolitical Risk, Innovative Agricultural Research and Development (R&D), Large scale farming to deliver more food at a lower cost, Proximity to Market Demand, Excellent Port Infrastructure, and Australia’s clean and green reputation.
Read More: FarmInvest Australia
Tasmanian Dairy Country sold yesterday by VDL to the Chinese
Quality Australian agribusiness is a good sound investment. Good enough for Australian superannuation investments; better than the fickle stock market.
“Foreign investment clearly can play an important role in developing Australia’s economy. But the issue is that the current foreign investment rules are too lax and too vague to protect the national interest.
Australia needs to be aware of how much of our agricultural land we are selling and to whom, so that we can maintain our food security and food supply chain. If we lose control over large areas of land and food production, we may be faced with a shortage of viable agricultural land to produce our food.”
Australian Independent Senator Nick Xenophon.