ALTHOUGH state Agricultural Minister John McVeigh had a message of getting together and talking when he addressed the Australia Indonesia Business Council (AIBC) lunch in Brisbane today, he acknowledged there was still a bit to do to smooth the pathways.
He was questioned by Capital Investments (Australia) Pty Ltd spokesperson Lisa Liang on why the regulations surrounding foreign investment were still so onerous.
“My people want to turn family farms into corporate farms but it’s not happening,” she said.
“It’s very frustrating.”
Mr McVeigh was quick to point to his credentials as the son of a Darling Downs graingrower, and said he wasn’t about to tell family farmers what they should or shouldn’t do.
“Those in Australian investment circles don’t understand the long-term value of agriculture, food security and so on,” he said.
“I recognise overseas investors might want a corporate style, and family farmers have got the right to speak with them, or not.
"It’s the role of government to facilitate economic development, irrespective of where the capital comes from.”
He agreed that his government needed to provide better facilitation for those who want to invest on a large scale in Australia.
“We are learning that we’ve got to step out and embrace investors more. At the same time, they’ve got to embrace us too.”
Earlier in his speech Mr McVeigh highlighted a favourable capital investment environment as one of the key elements in ensuring Indonesia saw Australia as a desirable trading partner.
He told an audience of banking, beef, sporting, education and business interests that Australian investment circles at large need to study what motivates foreign investors.
Queensland AIBC chair Kathleen Turner pointed to a Rabobank report outlining the economic transformation underway in Indonesia, which was rapidly increasing the demand for goods, including food.
She said Australia was well placed to capitalise on the demand, especially in wheat, beef, dairy and sugar.
She also urged a stronger focus on value over volume and said it was important to extract the value from the supply chain.
