Prev
Next

Coalition harmony drowning in a Cubbie Station dam

Malcolm Farr

by Malcolm Farr

04 Sep 11:30am

Must Reads

The Punch is moving house - this is a caption

The Punch is moving house

385

Will Pope Francis have the vision to tackle this? - this is a caption

Will Pope Francis have the vision to tackle this?

122

Advocating risk management is not “victim blaming” - this is a caption

Advocating risk management is not “victim blaming”

251

Filed under: Barnaby Joyce, China, Chinese Investment, Cubbie Station, Foreign Investment, Joe Hockey, Politics, Tony Abbott

72 comments

Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey today publicly rebuked his Nationals front-bench colleague Barnaby Joyce for opposing the sale of Cubbie Station to Chinese interests.

Would you cop a load of this bloke! Picture: Ray Strange

Mr Hockey, a Liberal, said Senator Joyce wasn’t speaking for the Coalition, and not even representing the policy of his own party. He was just “freelancing”.

Barnaby Joyce, who says he represents the wisdom of the Dirranbandi pub, has a record of saying things which don’t always fit neatly with the policy guidelines set by his urban Coalition partners. It could be patience with his self-promotion and positioning is running short.

But today’s friction also is a critical moment in the national debate over whether opening Australia up for foreign investment is selling the farm or ensuring an economic future.

It is a critical debate even though currently just one per cent of Australia’s agricultural land is foreign owned, and a micro fraction of that land would be in Chinese hands.

It’s understood Joe Hockey’s stinging comments on Sky News this morning amounted to a warning shot from the Coalition leadership, particularly the Liberal economic ministers.

It’s not just a matter of personality differences, although there is an element of that.

The danger for the Opposition is the prospect of the Coalition being dragged into an internal brawl over the important issue of foreign investment policy, with the leadership wanting to present Australia as a suitable place for overseas money while a populist group wants arbitrary restrictions.

And it’s one of the few occasions in which the Opposition leadership is prepared to defy the alarmist shrieks of prominent opinion makers on talkback radio.

Nationals Leader Warren Truss has stumbled along the alarmist path but Joe Hockey’s comments today were clearly aimed at Senator Joyce, who has greater electoral clout than his party chief.

Mr Hockey rejected comments by the Cubbie campaigners: “No, some people are freelancing. They do not speak for the Coalition. They don’t even speak for the National Party or the Liberal Party.”

And he pointedly said that shadow ministers, unlike back bench MPs, had a responsibility not to freelance.

The sale of Cubbie Station has become a focus of agitation because it is a well-known piece of outback real estate, has the potential to hold and dictate the release of a lot of water, and the buyers are Chinese at a time where there are exaggerated mutterings that Beijing is buying up the world.

It’s not just the Nationals who have joined these mutterings. Prominent Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan also is worried about Chinese investment generally.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has not joined the Cubbie crowd, and Senator Joyce Monday night effectively was attacking him when he attacked Treasurer Wayne Swan on ABC TV.

“If we don’t think the ownership of prime agricultural land is in our nation’s interest, if we don’t think that an organisation that produces up to 13 per cent of our nation’s cotton crop is in our national interest, Mr Swan, what on Earth is in our national interest?” said Senator Joyce.

Which led to Joe Hockey’s barbed reply today.

In June the Government proposed a foreign ownership register and the Opposition has come up with a similar proposal in a discussion paper, having not touched the idea during the 11 years of the Howard government.

The Gillard government has introduced a survey system with the Bureau of Statistics, every two or three years, to reinforce the information on the register.

However, so far there is no breakdown of foreign ownership of agricultural land by country. It’s not known, for example, how much farming and pastoral land is owned by the Chinese, nor by the Americans, the British or the New Zealanders.

In general terms, 99 per cent of agricultural businesses here are entirely Australian owned. Foreign ownership of land has only risen by 0.1 per cent in 30 years - from 5.9 per cent to 6.0 per cent.

Senator Joyce has yet to establish why is has been damaging to the national interest.

Comments on this post will close at 8pm AEST.

Most commented

72 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • AdamC says:

      11:43am | 04/09/12

      To me, the great problem with the Nationals is that they have the same reactionary, change-averse, producer-centric attitude to primary production as the ALP has to the traditional, blue collar union member. That is to say, the interests and lifestyles of the stoic, hard-working family farmer (or, in Labor’s case, the not-so-hard-working factory hand) must be protected and maintained, seemingly at any cost to the general public interest.

      Forward-thinking country-dwellers may appreciate that Australia needs foreign capital and, in the not too distant future, foreign labour to develop our agricultural potential in a growing Asia. However, these people are not necessarily in the majority. In fact, most country people seem to fear tha big-money (especially foreign) farming industries will chase the akubra-wearing ‘cocky’ of legened off the land.

      We need to make sure we do not let hysteria, hostility to foreigners or emotional manipulation affect our assessment of the national interest.

      Reply

    • Az says:

      12:24pm | 04/09/12

      National interests ?

      How is it in the “National Interest” to sell some of our best farmland to foreigners of any stripe ?

      “Developing our agricultural potential in a grwoing Asia” should not e ver mean just selling it off wholesale to the highest bidder.

    • Hanzel says:

      01:43pm | 04/09/12

      We’ve been doing the foreign investment thing for years now and we’ve seen the rich get richer as property values skyrocket, wages stagnate, traffic and transport get worse leading to longer work hours and fewer children.

      The issue isn’t that country folk need to change, it’s that we’ve tried the big business/ crony capitalist approach and the quality of life for average citizens has fallen well short of expectations.

      It’s as though the globalists think that Australians aren’t capable of managing our country without foreign direction, like we’ll go Lord of the Flies at each other - go through history and you will see that this is not the case at all, even today the more culturally conservative countries tend to have a more naturally equal society and are better off generally.

    • AdamC says:

      02:41pm | 04/09/12

      Az:

      “Developing our agricultural potential in a grwoing Asia” (sic) should not e ver mean just selling it off wholesale to the highest bidder.”

      Of course it should. People, foreign or local, can hardly be expected to fork out to develop agricultural land without secure ownership rights. And these owners will increasingly be from overseas. Ultimately, even if I agreed with you philosophically, which I do not, your idea of restricting foreign ownership is just impractical. There is not enough capital in Australia to replace foreign investment. There never has been.

      Hanzel, you seem very much like a glass half empty person. Whilst I agree with you about our low fertility rate, your claims about Australia’s economic performance do not hold water. In reality, living standards for every group in Australia have increased significantly since we started deregulating our economy thirty-odd years ago. In some ways, reform has been a victim of its own success, as our prosperity enables us to entertain follies like Joyce’s proposals. 

      And how would refusing to sell a cotton farm in the bush help ease traffic snarls in our capital cities?

    • M says:

      02:48pm | 04/09/12

      The skyrocketing property values has less to do with foreign investment than you might imagine, and more to do with those who control the land release/development side of things. It’s far easier to blame the yellow peril on that.

    • Hanzel says:

      05:06pm | 04/09/12

      @ AdamC,

      It depends how you measure living standards I suppose, I think most people would trade their TV(‘s), tablet and wardrobe for a legitimate chance at a quarter acre block where they can have real gardens, let the kids run free and breathe fresh air - most of which seems no longer possible for the average battler unless they want a heinous commute to work. If people are over owning decent land then I stand corrected but I assumed it was the most important thing.

      Foreign investment/ skilled immigrants/ big Australia - it’s all part of the same Worldview and requires more and more people to sustain, thus, causing the pointless crowds.

    • Sam says:

      11:44am | 04/09/12

      The thing is, the sale of Cubby Station appears to be a continuation of a trend of selling everything we have to international buyers instead of using it ourselves.  It’s like that massive gas project in the N.T selling natural gas to the Japanese for 1.2 cents a litre….why cant we befefit from cheap natural gas?  Would that be a bad thing for our country?  Same goes for Cubby Station…are we really better off now that we have sold it?  One day we will look back and wonder what we were thinking…..

      Reply

    • John says:

      01:15pm | 04/09/12

      A “trend” from 5.9 per cent to 6.0 per cent over 30 years, Sam? It’s been on the market for years. Why didn’t you buy it?

    • DOB says:

      04:45pm | 04/09/12

      Well, why dont you buy it then, if youre that worried about it? Come on, money where your mouths are…

      (ps the reason the nats supporters are annoyed is because they wanted no buyers to come forward so they could break it up and buy bits on the cheap - its not the national interest these people were worried about).

    • Sam says:

      05:51pm | 04/09/12

      I believe it was 300 million dollars.  We all could have bought it through our taxes and held onto it as part of the Future Fund.  Alternatively, if it were broken up into smaller pieces perhaps I could have bought some.

    • John says:

      07:17pm | 04/09/12

      The thing is, how does an increase from 5.9 per cent to 6.0 per cent over 30 years appear “to be a continuation of a trend of selling everything we have”? One tenth of one percent after 30 years!

    • Babylon says:

      11:46am | 04/09/12

      Mals finish for an issue, but he’s got no bait on the line. Either that or he’s loaded the bait with suncream on his hands.

      Interesting statistics, last time we debated the sale of Australian agricultural land we discovered that 10 percent of it had been sold to companies that were fronts for overseas Governments.

      Anyone remember?

      The sale of Australian agricultural land was part of Gillards vision for Australia becoming the food bowl of Asia. Except it wasn’t necessarily Australian industry producing the food, it was foreign ownership working Australian soil for Asia. I thought that part of the plan folly.

      Reply

    • bailey says:

      12:12pm | 04/09/12

      “Anyone remember?”

      Nope, you must have been in that dream where you generate random numbers and when you wake up, you post them on thepunch.

    • Gordon says:

      01:08pm | 04/09/12

      @bailey. Good one. I think quite a few people suffer from that dream.

    • Babylon says:

      01:15pm | 04/09/12

      Hey my very own Leftie Troll!

    • Borderer says:

      12:06pm | 04/09/12

      This would be unsettling in the dictorial environment of the Labor party, however it’s not, its the LNP, probably explains why Mal is confused. Not everyone has to agree with the party leader, whatever she said… whatever it was… I’m sure she’s right

      Reply

    • PsychoHyena says:

      01:49pm | 04/09/12

      @Borderer actually the LNP is the party that removes people if they don’t agree with the LNP policy line. LNP members are not allowed conscience votes on legislation, they must all vote how the majority of the LNP votes.

      Of course all this is irrelevant because Joyce is a member of the Nationals, not the LNP. But your mistake goes to show just how entrenched the Nationals and LNP have become and highlights how the Nationals have effectively lost their identity as a result of siding with the LNP for so long.

      At least the Greens and the ALP are still identified as being separate parties by your average Joe.

    • Borderer says:

      03:14pm | 04/09/12

      PsychoHyena
      Of course all this is irrelevant because Joyce is a member of the Nationals, not the LNP.
      I’ve just checked his website, it says “LNP Senator for Queensland”
      http://barnabyjoyce.com.au/
      Perhaps you should inform him as clearly he’s mistaken as to who he is representing.
      LNP members are not allowed conscience votes on legislation, they must all vote how the majority of the LNP votes.
      That was on the debate on gay marriage, not a rule, saying so is a long bow. They also debated whether it was an issue for a conscience vote, they didn’t find that it was so none took place, you seem to have overlooked that fact…..
      @Borderer actually the LNP is the party that removes people if they don’t agree with the LNP policy line.
      If you don’t like the party, leave, nobody expects you to stay if you don’t agree it’s not like they are rusted on unionists with nowhere else to go.

    • PsychoHyena says:

      04:10pm | 04/09/12

      @Borderer, his website also says “Leader of the Nationals in the Senate”. Although I will admit the error on my part which is that the Nationals and Liberals combined in Qld.

      However, your rebuttal against my statement regarding the Liberal Party’s approach of ejecting people who don’t toe the party line makes no sense whatsoever.

      Are you saying that members of both the Liberals and ALP are just sheep blindly following their masters? If so, then you should be attacking both sides and not just one for this behaviour.

    • Borderer says:

      04:48pm | 04/09/12

      PsychoHyena
      You don’t get it, people leave the LNP if they fundamentally disagree which is fine, there’s nothing keeping you there. The ALP need to keep it’s numbers at all costs and have done everything possible to bandy to minority wishes and ridiculous requests. That is the problem, bought silence and consent. How much to sell your conscience?
      If you can’t agree, make them leave the party, they can stand as an independant but don’t buy their consent to the detriment of the nation.

    • Scarneck says:

      12:20pm | 04/09/12

      If this is what we see from the Coalition in opposition, one can only imagine how they will act once in power. Barnaby Joyce is currently the Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Water, he is also the leader of the Nationals in the Senate…it doesn’t say much for the talent of the other Coalition members who don’t hold a Shadow Ministry or leadership role, especially if Joyce is the best they have to offer.

      Reply

    • Mark says:

      12:54pm | 04/09/12

      see borderers comment above, at least our representatives would have the ability to disagree, rather than Shorten the Sheeps blind faith…

    • John says:

      01:12pm | 04/09/12

      Remember when Barnaby was Finance Minister ? Now, that was funny.

    • Scarneck says:

      01:25pm | 04/09/12

      True Mark.

      That would explain why nothing happens when we have a Coalition government (see eleven years of Howard), they’re too busy disagreeing.

    • Borderer says:

      02:00pm | 04/09/12

      Scarneck
      I fail to see how vigorous debate over issues is preferrable to “group think” and staggering from one failure to the next.
      When Rudd removed the policy oversight process in order to rapidly dictate legislation he firstly stifled debate and secondly made it easier to make mistakes by only taking limited advice, this has been perpetuated by Gillard and the litany of failed policy continues. I could list them and point to the staggering lack of vision in each but the list is very long and the day is so very short by comparison….

    • year of the dragon says:

      05:19pm | 04/09/12

      John says:01:12pm | 04/09/12

      “Remember when Barnaby was Finance Minister ? Now, that was funny. “

      Remember when Joyce made Swan look like a confused, thirteen year old debater? That was funnier.

    • John says:

      06:36pm | 04/09/12

      Nowhere near as funny as when the Libs immediately dumped him as Shadow Finance Minister the moment he opened his mouth. Just listen to him here > Barnaby Joyce shows his finance skills

      And yes, sorry I forgot write Shadow Finance Minister before. Imagine how much damage this fool would do if the Coalition won an election.

    • Gordon says:

      12:26pm | 04/09/12

      We have more land than anybody & we panic about population, we have a food surplus that is more than double our comfortable first-world consumption yet we panic about “food security”. We have cradle-to-grave welfare yet moan about lack of services. We bitch about congestion but won’t build a road. We want to be “carbon free and reject all but the “purest” alternatives but freak out when electricity goes up. And now when we fail to value our own assests at what they are worth we bellow for the umpire when someone makes an offer on them. One could forgive the Chinese for assuming we’re just not serious.

      Reply

    • Esteban says:

      03:00pm | 04/09/12

      Gordon. How can you say we panic about population when we haven’t even bothered to formulate a population policy. Surely if we were panicing we wouyld be debating our population settings.

      The closest we came was Russ who favoured a “big Australia” who was replaced by gillard who favoured a “sustainable Australia”

      four years later we are still awaiting some hard numbers in relation to what a “sustainable Australia” actually means so I would not describe that as panic.

      Gordon you can buy colour coded maps of Australia. get one that shows the middle part in yellow. It is not arable land.

      We have less arable land than when we strated farming due to salinity with a greater population. Yes we are still a net food exporter but increasingly we rely upon imports.

      I for one would like to have a bit more variety than wheat beef and mutton.

      Market value is what the market is prepared to pay. Something is “worth” only what a willing buyer is prepared to pay.

      Those who support the carbon tax are delighted to pay more.

    • Gordon says:

      04:25pm | 04/09/12

      Estaban. I’m right with you on the value issue: it is worth exactly what someone will pay for it. My argument is with people who declare something is “too valuable” to sell, when it is not them putting up the money to keep it. I’d extend that to some but not all clean energy folk. Many are putting their own time and money into sustainable practises, but many think it is someone else’s job - the coal barons, the big pollu(d)ers, etc., and who want to believe decarbonising our economy should not cost them a bean.

      The reason we don’t have a population policy is such things are impossible in a free society: “Population policy” is a cute way of saying to someone sometime no you cannot have more kids or bring your gran out from kazakstan. Fine in theory but instant suicide electorally when applied. 

      Besides, who would come up with THE NUMBER? We can’t even agree how much water should be in the Murray or how much timber the Taswegians can chop down.

    • Esteban says:

      06:37pm | 04/09/12

      The massive growth in in global population has been on the back of cheap fossil fuels.

      I am not panicing Gordon but I hope those who are making those fossil fuels more expensive by taxation have a plan when cheap fossil fuel is not available to maintain global growth.

      I think we should by all means decarbonise the world. The appropriate time to do this is when a cheaper non carbon alternaitive is developed.

      We obviously have time on our hands because even though we have a carbon tax our carbon emissions are still continuing to grow. In my mind that is hardly an emergency response therefore we must not have an emergency on our hands.

      At that time the evil coal barrons will be brought down a peg or two and hopefuly no new barons of alternative energy will emerge for us to rail against.

      In terms of population and not getting into a panic Gordon I am reminded of the wise old addage “If you can keep your head while everyone around you is in a panic and losing their head then it is likely you haven’t got a bloody clue what is happening.”

    • Lionel Hutz says:

      12:34pm | 04/09/12

      Hey it’s Japan too but it’s so much easier to get worked up about China so let’s fudge the truth. Joyce is an absolute idiot, how can anyone take him seriously? I’ll let you in on a little secret, the right house is the house that’s for sale, the right person is anyone!

      Reply

    • the duke says:

      02:49pm | 04/09/12

      if Joyce is an absolute idiot that cant be taken seriously—can I give you some more living examples in Roxon, Shorten, Wong, Garrett, Plibersek, Swan and our Dear Leader Julia—I’ll let you in on a little secret—they’re not there on ability !!!!

    • cheap white trash says:

      05:50pm | 04/09/12

      Lionel,try and buy land in Japan and China and see how far you get?
      So you are happy for the Chinese Government to buy up our land?
      So you would be also happy if it imported all its workers from China??

    • Lion Hutz Attorney at Law says:

      07:58pm | 04/09/12

      I don’t care. Let them bring them from mars if they want.

    • Tubesteak says:

      12:42pm | 04/09/12

      I saw Joyce’s comments on the weekend on ABC24. I tried to find a report online but couldn’t find (didn’t look that hard, though).

      I find it funny that Joyce is trying to set himself up as an expert on transfer pricing and business valuation.

      Most of it is scremongering.

      He tries to claim that there are difficulties around transfer pricing. It’s not really true. The ATO has rulings on prices it expects to see and each one of the Big4 accounting firms has their own dedicated TP unit.

      Joyce is just having a whinge for the sake of it so that it looks like he’s doing something because he knows the ignorant will get behind him.

      Then he admitted that there was no buyer for the property but tried to claim that it could have been broke up into smaller parcels that may have been attractive. Again, this is just political opportunism dressed as patriotism. Maybe he forgot those lectures on economies of scale when he went to uni. No-one was interested in buying the farm until the Chinese stepped in.

      Reply

    • Two Sugars says:

      12:44pm | 04/09/12

      I’m with Barnaby on this one.
      Why are we selling the largest farm in Australia, and it’s associated water allocations, to the Chinese government? And how is that “in the national interest”?
      If it’s about recovering money to pay creditors, why not break the farm up into smaller lots that can be purchased by Australian entities, or at least try to?

      Reply

    • Denny says:

      12:51pm | 04/09/12

      At least Joyce is not a coward like Doug cameron and others of the left who were too gutless to stand against the new aslyum seeker policy and Gillard who struggles to maintain a consistant position on any issue.

      Why is it so bad to hold a contarary position? Better everyone follow the party line no matter how stupid as is the case with labor. I suppose that explains why Mal never finds fault in Gillard.

      Reply

    • Jeremy says:

      12:57pm | 04/09/12

      The problem is that too much of Australia’s agriculture is poorly run, and severely lacking in investment, so we need foreigners to make up for the shortfall here.
      Even when it comes to jobs, not all jobs are worth keeping. If some people need to lose their jobs for a business, or industry, to remain viable, that is what should happen. Equally, if a company can function as well without you, your skills are being inefficiently used by the market. It often takes an outsider to shake up a stale culture.

      Reply

    • The cynic says:

      02:26pm | 04/09/12

      To all those crying out about us selling our land to overseas buyers and threatening food security, I have one question.  When was the last time you sat down for a Sunday lunch of roasted cotton balls with 3 veg and mint sauce?  That said I still find it hard to figure why when Australia can grow cotton at the rate of over approximately two and a half times the global average per hectare how the farm in question went tits up. Either the cotton industry is incapable of competing in the world market or the costs per farm are far too high. For whatever reason, Australia may well have increased the efficiency in resources used to achieve such a stellar cotton output in a very harsh non cotton friendly environment. All they need to do now is get the manpower costs under control and I guess that will be with 457 visas with prodding from the new owners.

    • Rose says:

      03:15pm | 04/09/12

      Jeremy I tend to agree that there needs to be a more objective look at what jobs need saving. However, if we are going to accept that some jobs aren’t worth the effort then there must be an acknowledgement that there needs to be better access to training, particularly for semi-skilled (low paid) workers. That is the only way that we can have a flexible, useful workforce ready to adapt as needed, quickly!
      To do this there needs to be government incentives for quality training, industry commitments to training and employee commitment to welcome training. The unions could be included as providing some of the bridging training or providing avenues for training for workers wanting to cross over to new types of work.

    • vox says:

      12:57pm | 04/09/12

      Where’s Warren Truss in all of this? The Leader of the National Party?
      “No answer”, was the stern reply.
      I’ve asked Abbott publicly and by mail, (twice!), why Truss isn’t the Deputy Leader of the Opposition Parties. Again, “No answer”, was the stern reply.
      Well, we know the answer, don’t we. He has no ability, (does Bishop?), he does not have the confidence of Abbott, and he certainly doesn’t have a say.
      He might as well hand the whole Nats baton over to the Libs and go home. Oh hang on, he can’t, can he. Not until Abbott tells him to go. Because Abbott only leads a minor Party, and without the compliant Truss he is nothing. Actually, even with Truss he is nothing.
      And Borderer, it’s not the LNP. It’s just the two lesser Parties holding hands.
      Please try to get something right or people might think you’re being “dictorial”.

      Reply

    • Borderer says:

      01:24pm | 04/09/12

      Vox,
      Following your rational of two seperate parties, come election the ALP will have less seats than the nationals, does that mean they will be the opposition and your lot will be in the outer benches with the independants, Katter and the Green (if by some miracle he retains his seat)?
      Be careful what you wish for dumb dumb….

    • Gratuitous Adviser says:

      05:22pm | 04/09/12

      “I’ve asked Abbott publicly and by mail, (twice!), why Truss isn’t the Deputy Leader of the Opposition Parties. Again, “No answer”, was the stern reply.”
      When in opposition it is normal practice for the Libs/Nats to not have the leader of the secondary party as the deputy leader of the opposition.  I can not remember the reason why but, to my knowledge, it has always been the case.  Maybe it because they are only a “coalition” when in Government.  Maybe I should ask Border.  He/she seems to have his/her finger on it.

    • True Blue Ozzie says:

      01:20pm | 04/09/12

      3 Cheers for Joyce! At least someone in Canbera has balls, and say’s it as it is! How refreshing a pollie who speaks his mind, and does not pussy foot around, the muppets in Canbera could sure learn a thing or two from Joyce! Thanks Joyce for standing for Australian’s!

      Reply

    • Levi of Bris says:

      01:28pm | 04/09/12

      Surprise surprise Mal Farr writes yet another coalition critical article, once again glossing over the constant deluge of Labor stuff ups and mismanagement. God forbid Mal gets rid of his ALP membership card and attempts the impartiality required of a national political editor. One day….

      Reply

    • Blind Freddy says:

      04:24pm | 04/09/12

      Waaaaaaaaaaa . . . . . . .

    • Bear says:

      05:04pm | 04/09/12

      Yea I know, benson, Kelly, van onselen, to name just a few, gushing Liberal love is perfectly “objective” isn’t it!?

    • simply kev says:

      01:30pm | 04/09/12

      what about all the us and british owned farms ? doesnt play as well with the agrarian socialists does it ? and finding wisdom at the Dirrangandi Pub ? Baranaby try reading non fiction books, start with an australian history of agriculture; can you believe hes an educated senator and a shadow minister ? so he talks Pub talk ? come on Baranaby shape up mate

      Reply

    • Joan says:

      01:32pm | 04/09/12

      Only fools sell off their country - land to foreigners smart guys let foreigners lease the land only and keep the land for future Australians. Starting with Gillard ,  Australians day after day prove they are world`s biggest dopes.

      Reply

    • PsychoHyena says:

      01:52pm | 04/09/12

      @Joan, and yet Tony Abbott has supported the sell-off. Whoops, try learning about the topic before running your mouth.

    • SD says:

      02:43pm | 04/09/12

      You no doubt disagreed with the Liverals selling Telstra then?

    • Gladys Devorkian says:

      02:51pm | 04/09/12

      Joan has obviusly not been reading the Opposition song sheet correctly (or this article BTW) -

    • Gladys Devorkian says:

      02:51pm | 04/09/12

      Joan has obviusly not been reading the Opposition song sheet correctly (or this article BTW) -

    • Joan says:

      02:57pm | 04/09/12

      Hey Psycho, I’ve got my view on who should own the country Australia - and it`s Australian citizens only. and Australia shouldn’t be up for sale to foreigners for a bag of beads or hand full of dollars. You don’t like my view Psycho - well tough.

    • tez says:

      03:31pm | 04/09/12

      Joan you are doing it again read the artical and just don’t dismiss it and turn everything into a Gilard rant

    • PsychoHyena says:

      04:02pm | 04/09/12

      @Joan, I repeat, blame Tony Abbott as well, he has thrown his full support behind the sale along with Joe Hockey.

      Really if I want to sell my land to a foreigner then I can, if I want to sell anything to a foreigner I can.

      Based on your rant Joan, you obviously don’t agree with exporting our resources and products overseas as they are owned by Australians, we should just be renting those resources and products. Oh but wait you oppose the MRRT, which is about ensuring Australians get more from the minerals and resources taken from Australian soil.

      How about you go and learn the meaning of consistency and then come back?

    • Joan says:

      05:14pm | 04/09/12

      Psycho: What a load of twat. Selling land is totally different to selling ore or raspberries I guess you are just one of many dopes that can’t tell the difference Ask the indigenous who lost their land for a trinket or other thing. or reason

    • pc says:

      02:37pm | 04/09/12

      I just noticed that in spite of the linear formation of a punch blog, that is an article, followed by one post after the other, one below the other of posts. They make a straight line. But if you read the posts you notice,very quickly, I hypothesise more quickly on certain controversial subjects, the discussion is eliptical and almost circular.

      Some punchwits tried to mislead readers as to the size of foreign ownership of land. Either that or they didnt read the article. Foreign Land Ownership in Australia is 6%. I assume a large portion of that 6% is because an Australian didnt want to buy the land.

      Malcolm Farr has an interesting story here. Is cubbie station about positioning within the Coalition in the lead up to the next federal election or is there a more serious split between the agricultural nationalists in the National Party and the Neo Cons in the Liberal party? Or is the Coalition fabricating a contretemps over land ownership to distract from its weakness on education in the hope they can have Chris Pyne telling business communties “There is no threat TO foreign ownership” at the same time as Barnaby Joyce tells the xenophobes, “There is no threat OF foreign ownership.”

      Reply

    • Terry2 says:

      02:50pm | 04/09/12

      Last time I looked, Cubbie was in administration owing over $350 million so the Administrator has a duty to the crefitors to make sure he gets top dollar for the asset : end of story.

      Reply

    • tez says:

      03:54pm | 04/09/12

      And maybe they can grow something better than thirsty cotton

    • The Administrators says:

      05:04pm | 04/09/12

      Hi Tez , we’re sure you’re probably right . But hey, we’re bean counters not agricultural geniuses. Come and see us tomorrow w/ your well thought out proposal and we’ll work something out.

    • stringalong says:

      02:56pm | 04/09/12

      It’s a pity Mal doesen’t realise Green Labour is running the country, the Opposition are on-lookers. Just because he can’t write something nice about his faves doesn’t mean he has to fill a whole smarty-pants column bagging the Opposition. Don’t worry Mal,Insiders will never desert you!

      Reply

    • Seve says:

      03:03pm | 04/09/12

      Another anti-opposition story….. yaaaaawn

      Reply

    • ZaSaMa says:

      04:16pm | 04/09/12

      No coincidence we get this tripe on the day polls come out showing primary support for the ALP has slipped back down to 33%, in spite of their blatant vote buying exercise of the past 2 weeks, which of course they won’t be paying for.

      Nice attempted smokescreen Farr.

      You’re nothing but a shill.

    • andye says:

      07:09pm | 04/09/12

      @ZaSaMa - what about the preferred leader? where is that at the moment? it seems you forgot to mention that particular stat.

    • Robert S McCormick says:

      04:18pm | 04/09/12

      Wakey! Wakey! Boys’n'Girls!
      One of the beautiful things about the Coalition is something the ALP will never, ever allow it’s MPs & Senators to do:
      They forbid, under threat of expulsion, any comment by any MP or Senator which does not strictly follow ALP Policy. With the exception of Conscience Votes, if you cross the floor and vote against ALP Policy you are out.
      The Coalition Parties allow their MPs & Senators to speak. No, the likes of Abbott, Hockey et al. may not like it but at least Coalition members have the Right to Speak. So Joyce takes note of what is said in the Dirranbandi Pub - it is a pity other MPs & Senators did not listen to what others have to say - in the pub or out of it for they might just get some common-sense policiies if they did.
      That Wayne Swan has allowed the Chinese (or anyone who is not Australian) to buy Cubbie Station is a disgrace. Granted they can’t dig the bloody place up & transport it back to China and nor can they put all those 100s of billions of litres of precious water into tankers & take it back to China. It is the principle that counts. Not only are we setting up Australia to become, like Nauru, a F#$%&*k great hole in the ground like some sort of mishapen doughnut we are now allowing foreigners unrestricted ownership of our land.
      Once all those minerals have been extracted, and which is being sold off cheaply, what will be left. We will have no income from mining, we will own nothing.
      Good on Barnaby for objecting to this sale. There will be many who will agree with him.

      Reply

    • Right-wing wingnut says:

      04:20pm | 04/09/12

      Malcolm- you have been told before, don’t ever mention the alternative (and perhaps next) PM of Australia. We prefer a lucky-dip where we just try our luck and see what we get.

      Reply

    • Sarah Bath says:

      05:25pm | 04/09/12

      cubbie station holds enough water reserves to flush the Murray Darling system several times and can protect our wetlands. This is one reason why water intensive crops such as cotton and rice should be disalowed.  We would like to take the current governments water buy back scheme one step further and buy these water farms so that they are controlled by the people.

      Reply

    • Bho Ghan-Pryde says:

      06:29pm | 04/09/12

      With this government needing to borrow $1billion per week they are hardly in a position to tell those loaning them a large part of that money to stuf off if they want something. Better get used to it.

      Reply

    • Bho Ghan-Pryde says:

      06:30pm | 04/09/12

      With this government needing to borrow $1billion per week they are hardly in a position to tell those loaning them a large part of that money to stuf off if they want something. Better get used to it.

      Reply

    • Alfie says:

      07:57pm | 04/09/12

      If you have an issue Mal, take it up with the ‘worlds best treasurer’. He claims to know what he is doing.

      Reply
 
Sorry, comments are now closed for this article.

Facebook Recommendations

Read all about it

Punch live

Up to the minute Twitter chatter

David Penberthy

penbo 19 May 13 12:24AM

@KevCorduroy @SallyHitchiner it's a great idea I doubt he'd go for it though far too laid back

ToryShepherd

ToryShepherd 18 May 13 10:48PM

. @mcguiremi is journo of the year! #samediaawards

ToryShepherd

ToryShepherd 18 May 13 10:35PM

.@mariamosco @msmarto Super Smarto. And Shirley Stott Despoja into the Hall of Fame #samediaawards

ToryShepherd

ToryShepherd 18 May 13 10:14PM

Best print journo to @mcguiremi woot! #samediaawards

See all tweets

Recent posts

The latest and greatest

The Punch is moving house

by The Punch Team

385

The Punch is moving house

Good morning Punchers. After four years of excellent fun and great conversation, this is the final post…

Will Pope Francis have the vision to tackle this?

by Hannah Harborow

122

Will Pope Francis have the vision to tackle this?

I have had some close calls, one that involved what looked to me like an AK47 pointed my way, followed…

Advocating risk management is not “victim blaming”

by Sarrah Le Marquand

251

Advocating risk management is not “victim blaming”

In a world in which there are still people who subscribe to the vile notion that certain victims of sexual…

Nosebleed Section

choice ringside rantings

From: Hasbro, go straight to gaol, do not pass go

Tim says:

They should update other things in the game too. Instead of a get out of jail free card, they should have a Dodgy Lawyer card that not only gets you out of jail straight away but also gives you a fat payout in compensation for daring to arrest you in the first place. Instead of getting a hotel when you… [read more]

From: A guide to summer festivals especially if you wouldn’t go

Kel says:

If you want a festival for older people or for families alike, get amongst the respectable punters at Bluesfest. A truly amazing festival experience to be had of ALL AGES. And all the young "festivalgoers" usually write themselves off on the first night, only to never hear from them again the rest of… [read more]

Light weight

Gentle jabs to the ribs

Superman needs saving

Superman needs saving

Can somebody please save Superman? He seems to be going through a bit of a crisis. Eighteen months ago,… Read more

28 comments

Newsletter

Read all about it

Sign up to the free News.com.au newsletter