Cubbie station seems a good test of what the limits are in what people will accept in foreign ownership. It is something most people know something about and it brings into play the rural sector, our iconic Murray River,  environmental issues, industrial and national development, and the impact on local economies. 

If foreign investment were made up of Cubbies, then there wouldn't be any.

The Leximancer map shows the elements at play in this particular incidence very well.

At the top of the graph you have those who support the sale and they are essentially saying that other investors have had enough time to make an offer, and if they haven't then take what is on the table.

But as you move down the graph you first strike commercial arguments against the sale, particularly concern that Australians (apparently) can't buy similar assets in China, and probably even a concern that it is Chinese who are doing the buying.

As we move down to the strongest opposition issues such as food security, water security and the environment come into play, as well as the idea that we should be processing the cotton here, rather than selling the land to Chinese who will produce cotton to be processed overseas and then reimported.

Verbatims

First_Pref: greens
Cubbie: strongly_disapprove
HOW DARE THE GOVERNMENT CONSIDER LET ALONE APPROVE THIS DEAL. The Chinese company would control the cotton crop and market, HUGE water resources that are vital to large areas of Australia's agricultural community, and could see little or no benefit come back to Australia via taxes, employment, water, etc. If the Chinese government does not already own the Chinese company now it almost certainly will do so in the future.

First_Pref: labor
Cubbie: approve
Cubbie station has been in receivership for years, no Australian based consortium wanted to buy it - if you deny foreign ownership its just shifts to investment through the back door - its best to be upfront and transparent about who owns what

First_Pref: liberal_national_party
Cubbie: strongly_disapprove
From the little I heard on radio (too busy at the moment to follow much), there is a danger that the cotton could be sent out of Australia within the purchasing entity and thus avoid paying the usual taxes, fees, etc if exported. Cubbie Station is too large to be sold overseas.

First_Pref: greens
Cubbie: strongly_disapprove
Cubbie is located on extremely fertile soils and has the largest irrigation entitlement in Qld (if not Australia. I don't think it is good for our own food security to allow vast, productive areas of our country to be devoted to exporting food to China as a first priority.

First_Pref: i_haven't_decided
Cubbie: disapprove
I am opposed to handing over ownership, management and control of our landscape, water and natural resources to other sovereign states or corporations whose principal interest lay outside of Australia. Not opposed at all to international trade and investment in manufactured goods and services.

First_Pref: liberal_national_party
Cubbie: strongly_disapprove
For the reasons stated above, but also because Cubbie Station, and its obscene usage of water (which is not naturally abundant anyhow and which is totally wasted on this enterprise - one which ought not to be allowed in a dry and arid country like Australia. Australia is not a suitable region in which to grow either cotton or rice (see talk given by Professor David Suzuki) both crops which use vast amounts of water, which cause environmental damage and which will now funnel the bulk of profits to another country for their usage. Not good enough.

First_Pref: labor
Cubbie: approve
The company was bankrupt to nearly 280 million Hopefully the sale would have paid the local suppliers and staff. Also I doubt we would be having this survey if Cubbie had been sold to a white anglo saxon country.

First_Pref: labor
Cubbie: neutral
While I was disappointed that Cubbie Station is soley owned by the Chinese, the fact remains that it has been sitting idle for years and the sale will boost prospects of it re-opening and employing people. At long as Australian workers get considered for employment first, I have no real objection.

First_Pref: greens
Cubbie: strongly_disapprove
I don't approve of selling agricultural land to foreign companies - food security is of the utmost importance. Cubby (cotton) is too big & is robbing the Murray Darling system of far too much water.

First_Pref: labor
Cubbie: disapprove
Firstly Cubbie Station consumes too much of Australia's water and this will now be used for growing rice for China and we will not have control over this. Secondly, the Chinese government will want to expand their asset for more rice growing, therefore consuming more of the scarce water supply.

First_Pref: liberal_national_party
Cubbie: strongly_disapprove
Cubby station is an especially bad case, asa it combines the loss of a large tract of agricultural land with water rights. These rights, made even more rapacious than usual by a queensland statute, can be exercised in a way that is critically damaging to the Murray-Darling system and all other downstream water consumers.

First_Pref: greens
Cubbie: neutral
Cubbie station seemed to run at a loss so if someone wants to buy it then good luck to them. If certain water rights/allocations go with the sale then that should be carefully assessed as water is in effect a fixed asset.

A better outcome would have been for the land and water resources to have been retained in Australian ownership and a partnership with foreign capital arranged to operate a viable international business. There needs to be a shared community of common interest in the long-term sustainable management of our natural landscape and resources which is very difficult to achieve with ownership of these resources by a party whose principal community of interest lies elsewhere.

Most of the water storage of Cubbie should be dynamited and the water returned to the river system. However, in view of the fact that it is already irrigated land, and with global population expanding rapidly, we may be selling a facility that may be necessary for our own food security.

However we are selling our minerals to China and there may have to be trade-offs.On the otherhand I am pleased that the Chinese government is concerned about the future food production to feed its people and pleased that they have a one child policy to control their future population.

I am exceedingly angry over this particular matter because there was an Australian consortium that could have taken over the Cubbie property but the ALP government in Canberra put Chinese investment ahead of Australian interests.

We need to distinguish between development capital and foreign take over capital which simply eats up successful Australian enterprises and sends the profits overseas. For instance how can it be to our advantage for almost all of our food processing industry to be owned by foreigners?

Share this article on your favourite social bookmarking sites: