AUSTRALIA: First Foreign Ownership of Agricultural Land Register Report Released

Wednesday September 7 2016

The Turnbull Government today released Australia’s first report from the Agricultural Land Register, delivering on their commitment to increase scrutiny and transparency in Australian agriculture.

The Land Register shows foreign investors hold just 13.6 per cent of all Australian agricultural land. The United Kingdom is Australia’s principal source of investment in agriculture and the preferred means of agricultural investment is through leasehold.

Of the 13.6 per cent of agricultural land held by international investors the overwhelming majority, or more than 52 per cent, is owned by United Kingdom investors.

The countries with the next largest shares are: the United States, Netherlands, Singapore and China. Less than half a per cent (0.38 per cent) of Australia’s agricultural land is held by Chinese investors.

On 11 February 2015, the Government announced a suite of reforms designed to increase transparency around foreign investment in Australia. These reforms included the establishment of a foreign ownership register of agricultural land and changes to Australia’s foreign investment screening regime as it applies to acquisitions of agricultural land.

The Register of Foreign Ownership of Agricultural Land (Agricultural Land Register) was established on 1 July 2015 and is administered by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). The Register of Foreign Ownership of Agricultural Land Act 2015 (Agricultural Land Register Act 2015) requires foreign persons with an interest in agricultural land to register that interest on the Agricultural Land Register, regardless of the value of the land.

Investors are required to notify the ATO within 30 days if they:

• are a foreign person starting to hold agricultural land; or
• are a foreign person ceasing to hold agricultural land; or
• become a foreign person while holding agricultural land; or
• cease to be a foreign person while holding agricultural land; or
• are a foreign person holding land that becomes agricultural land; or
• are a foreign person holding land that ceases to be agricultural land.

The register collects details about the foreign person, including name and contact details; country of incorporation and an ABN or other identifier where the registrant is an entity; or nationality, passport and visa details where the registrant is an individual.

The Register as at 30 June 2016 is available on the Foreign Investment Review Board website.

Click the link at the top of the page for further information on the report.