Please have a look at China before giving Australia a lecture.

Concerns about China have more to do with the type of state China is, so please keep the discussion real.

China should not be allowed to buy Australian land until, at least, Australians can buy land in China. This equality of treatment is the very basis of mutual respect!

That having been said, with food insecurity increasing worldwide, Australia should not be allowing agricultural land to be sold to non-nationals at all. When push comes to shove and people are hungry and desperate, you can expect China to defend access to its agricultural holdings in Australia and, if these are large enough, then military action (or e.g. blockage of shipping lanes to Australia) could not be ruled out.

Just a bit of a kid are you Chan. Perhaps you're a bit short of time to do a bit of research too.

Well just to help you I'll point out that China is the third subject of this debate. If you were old enough you would have witnessed the exact same thing, when it was first the UK citizens, & then the USA citizens buying up the place. Similar people bitched back then, & equally dumb journalists played it up, big time, so don't take it personally Chan.

I personally do have a little worry that this time it is a foreign government buying us out of house & home, but we will probably survive. Being Chinese, they will sell what they produce to the highest bidder, there has never been much room for sentiment in Chinese business. So don't worry michael, we'll get first bite [do you like that one], at the food they produce here.

Is this article serious, or an attempt at satire? Foreign investment is a political and economic issue that's quite independent of ethnic politics---wrong forum.

The author seems completely unaware of the double standards she's using, on her criteria the Chinese are even worse racists. I would advise Dr Chan Cheah that anyone can play the race card. I've also had enough of hypocritical lectures.

Dr Chan, you are stereotyping Australians, there's a word for that..

Ho hum. We've blithely outsourced carbon emissions, slave labour and environmental damage to China to satisfy our endless appetite for cheap crap, so why not add food production. Melamine for lunch, anyone? At least China is forward looking and has plans well into the future, not just up to the next election. I'm sure when we negotiate our 'free trade' agreement with China we'll sign up to let them walk all over us, same as we did with the Americans.

So Chan, why can't we Australians buy land in China?