VZCZCXRO6951
RR RUEHPT
DE RUEHBY #1100/01 3492208
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 152208Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY CANBERRA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2433
INFO RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 0021
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 9675
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 8185
RUESLE/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 0028
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 3766
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 2161
RUEHGP/AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE 1838
RUEHBN/AMCONSUL MELBOURNE 6841
RUEHPT/AMCONSUL PERTH 5105
RUEHDN/AMCONSUL SYDNEY 5110

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CANBERRA 001100 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EEB/IFD 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/ANP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EFIN ECON PREL AS
SUBJECT: AUSTRALIA ANNOUNCES MINOR MODIFICATIONS ON FOREIGN 
INVESTMENT 
 
REF: CANBERRA 900 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Treasurer Wayne Swan announced minor changes to 
the review framework for foreign investment proposals, in response 
to findings from a Senate inquiry and confusion among foreign 
investors, particularly from China.  From 2010, major companies will 
be required to retain local share market listing; the Foreign 
Investment Review Board (FIRB) will increase from three to four 
members; and the FIRB will improve communication with foreign 
investors.  Swan maintains the FIRB does not discriminate against 
Chinese state-owned companies and defended the FIRB's case-by-case 
approach to vetting investment proposals.  Nevertheless, investors 
have called for a more transparent system and new Opposition Finance 
spokesman Barnaby Joyce called for a ban on Chinese sovereign 
investment.  END SUMMARY. 
 
Clear message to foreign investors 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) Treasurer Wayne Swan announced on December 10 minor changes 
to the policy for assessing foreign investment approvals (reftel). 
Among the changes, Swan will increase the FIRB's membership from 
three to four members in 2010 and will require major resource 
companies to remain listed in the Australian Securities Exchange. 
The announcement was prompted by criticism from a Senate Economics 
Committee inquiry and apparent confusion from some foreign 
investors, particularly from China. 
 
 
¶3. (U) Swan conceded foreign investment rules could be explained 
better and called for greater efforts to outline investment policies 
to overseas investors.  He instructed the FIRB to release an 
easy-to-read version of the foreign investment review framework for 
prospective investors, which will be available in other languages, 
including Chinese, Japanese and Bahasa (Indonesia), and to engage 
with embassies in Australia to explain the policies. 
 
Caps used as guidelines but are not fixed 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶4. (SBU) FIRB Director Patrick Colmer allegedly told to a Chinese 
investment audience in September that foreign investors with 
"significant government ownership" should limit ownership stakes in 
greenfield resource projects to less than 50% and shares in major 
resource companies to 15%.  Swan subsequently stated that Colmer's 
words were taken out of context and made it clear that there should 
be no fixed caps on the ownership level by foreign investors. 
Colmer noted to Econoff instances where projects with ownership 
levels higher than these thresholds have been approved, but 
acknowledged that while these are not official caps, the FIRB uses 
them as general guidelines or triggers to focus their reviews. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Nevertheless, investors like Minmetals vice-president Mark 
Liu have called for a more transparent system, saying foreign 
investment rules in Australia are "guidelines rather than 
regulations" and are causing enormous uncertainty.  Critics also 
complain that using vague guidelines allows the GOA to camouflage 
under the banner of "in the national interest" decisions that are 
more influenced by politics than policy. 
 
Selling out to China? 
QSelling out to China? 
---------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) The lack of clear cut guidelines has caused some legitimate 
confusion, especially among Chinese companies, which, if involved in 
a large investment project, will likely only know whether their 
proposed investment is viable after private consultations with the 
FIRB.  New Opposition Finance spokesman Barnaby Joyce, who has 
strongly criticized Chinese ownership of resource projects, called 
for a ban on Chinese sovereign investment.  Swan defended Chinese 
investment as positive for Australia. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Comment:  The Senate Economics Committee put Treasurer Swan 
on the defensive and caused him to make minor changes to improve the 
FIRB's transparency.  Swan's response was also meant to defend the 
 
CANBERRA 00001100  002 OF 002 
 
 
existing policy from the new Opposition, which is taking a more 
restrictive position on Chinese parastatal investment.  He also 
sought to reassure international investors, particularly Chinese, 
that Australia remains open for business. On the core issue, the GOA 
prefers to retain maximum flexibility on how it handles deals and 
has steadfastly resisted a clear checklist that could tie its hands. 
 Instead, the FIRB's broad national interest mandate allows the 
Government considerable discretion to impose conditions on 
approvals. 
CLUNE