Shared interest or strategic threat? A critical investigation of political debates and regulatory responses to Chinese agricultural investment in Australia

Since the global food crisis, China has been in the spotlight as a major actor in the global ‘land grab’. In the context of Australia – a key target of Chinese investment – rising Chinese farmland ownership has provoked a contentious debate, eventually leading to a revision of Australia’s foreign investment regime. The paper analyses how concerns over the assumed ‘state-driven’ and ‘food security’-oriented nature of Chinese investment have been mobilized to tighten governmental scrutiny over foreign investment flows into Australian agriculture. I argue that the reregulation of Australia’s foreign investment regime must be understood as part of a broader effort by Australian political and agribusiness interests to balance the opportunities and threats associated with China’s rise as a key agri-food player. Ultimately, these controversies have precluded a substantial reflection upon the problematic productivist assumptions that characterize common understandings of who should own Australian farmland and to which ends.