Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Water is often more valuable than the land. In this instance, the two go together. We have had discussions with the government about getting up an amendment to include agricultural water and a holding in agricultural water. That is something we are interested in seeing being added to this deal. It is something that I know Senator Waters, Senator Hanson-Young, Senator Siewert and Senator Milne have all campaigned on in the past. This is an opportunity for us to do that and to get that ball rolling.

In terms of the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Fees Imposition Bill 2015, this significantly increases the maximum penalties for offences, which we have no problem with at all. It expands the scope of those related parties covered by the penalties, especially the real estate agents, which we have no problem with at all. It establishes civil penalties and empowers the ATO to investigate and seek court orders for infringements. It establishes application fees which will be used to fund additional resourcing for the ATO and, potentially, for the work that will have to go into setting up the agricultural register and, hopefully, a register for water holdings in this country as well.

All in all, it is not exactly what, perhaps, the Greens had wanted, but there are other things that we can try to legislate. We do feel—and it is very dear to our party—that we need to take measures to help mitigate dangerous climate change. We need to take food security seriously. Other nations are taking food security seriously. We know that extreme weather events are likely to increase in the future, and they have devastating impacts on agricultural land and on the production of food. And there is water. In a climate constrained world, what is more important than water? There is clean air and a few other important things, I have to admit. But water is critically important for growing food. If we do not have food, then we are going to starve. It is a really good idea to start collecting data and information that helps us assess the risks to food security in this country and gives us a better idea of how we are going to manage what we see as significant risks from climate change into the future.

We do not believe having FIRB referrals at a lower limit will impact investment. That is only for those nations that have not already negotiated trade deals. We do not believe that is a hurdle, given there have been so few rejections by the Foreign Investment Review Board. Of course, the simple principle is that we need information to make good policies and good decisions. I do not think any of us would disagree. We actually have no idea who owns, in the totality, agricultural land in this country. We have never accurately tracked foreign ownership of agricultural land and water. It is time that we actually started.

We will certainly be supporting these bills in principle. I cannot say whether we will support amendments at this stage. We have not spent enough time looking at that. We will be putting up amendments of our own. Good on the government for bringing this forward. As I said earlier, Senator Milne would have loved to have been here to be speaking in my shoes right now. This is something she has campaigned on for years. I will look forward to seeing this pass into legislation with the support of the Greens.