Interests owned by or controlled by the Australian government are not welcome to purchase property in other countries, for sovereignty and political reasons.

Therefore, It makes perfect sense to oppose the purchase of Cubby by Chinese interests if they are owned or controlled by the Chinese government. That goes also for any other foreign interests that are owned or controlled by their respective governments

Raycom
No it does not make any kind of sense, and it is absurd to say so. National affairs are not a sort of tit-for-tat where other countries do something stupid so we should be equally stupid. In any case the company buying Cubby is not state owned.. its Chinese and Japanese investors.

But even if it was state owned, so what? If they want to spend $300 million or so on a dodgy cotton station in Queensland backblocks, and try to make a go of it then let them. At least someone there is willing to pay the wages of the staff. If other countries don't want Austalian investment, for whatgever reason, well then that is their problem.. we should do what is right for our interests which is to allow the investment.,.

Curmudgeon, well said

The populist, irrational and implicitly xenophobic reaction to the sale of Cubby is rural politics at its worst

I'd be more concerned by the fact that Optus has the contract for communications in Parliament House and that's owned by the Singapore government.

In fact the Singapore government also has several commercial holding, from Gold Coast investments to the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney and after our privatisation frenzy, owns more commercial assets than the Australian government.

I think Joyce's protests were really more to do with grandstanding within the electorate in which he hopes to win a Lower House seat at the next election.

Curmudgeon

So you imply that the Chinese and Japanese investors interested in Cubby are being stupid.

The point I was trying to make was one of reciprocity.

Australia has allowed several significant foreign-government controlled investments, such as Optus and in mining ventures. Given your financial background, would you be so kind as to list significant Australian government-owned or controlled income-earning investments in other countries. You would not find many in China or Japan for a start, because they do not allow it.

Raycom
why on earth would you want the Australian Government to invest taxpayers' money in running ompanies overseas?