THE FEDERAL Government has "no damned idea" on levels of foreign land ownership in Australia, according to SAFF president Peter White.
He launched a scathing attack on last week's ABARES Foreign Investment and Australian Agriculture report, which claimed there was no cause for concern about foreign investment.
The report said that about 89 per cent of agricultural land was entirely Australian-owned, along with about 91pc of water entitlements and 99pc of agribusinesses – levels it believed were comparable with those of 1983-84.
But Mr White said the report was flawed because Australia did not have a register of foreign land ownership.
"It's guesswork. If you can't measure it, you can't monitor it," he said.
"The government does not think there is a problem with anecdotal evidence. How many places have been bought using foreign money and an Australian front?
"The reality is, they have no damned idea."
Mr White said countries were buying foreign agricultural land so they could feed themselves in the future.
"In 30 years time, places such as China, India and a lot of other countries won't be able to feed themselves, so where are they going to get their food from?
"That's why they are buying land in SA - to underpin themselves, grow food and send it back home."
The Foreign Investment Review Board provides data on approvals given by the government, but they only kick-in on foreign investments above $231m.
And following the approval process, FIRB data does not capture any subsequent activity, such as re-sales back to Australians.
Family First MLC Robert Brokenshire said he was concerned about the report's accuracy.
"From my understanding, they compiled it on Australian Business Numbers, so there's a question mark as to whether that covers all the investors," he said.
"And I will continue to argue we shouldn't be selling farming land and water rights to foreign investors or partnerships.
"I support it in other areas because we need to grow our economic activity, but not in the area where you actually provide the raw products - the risks into the future are too great."
Mr Brokenshire said with world food production having to double in the next 40 years, it was in Australia's best interests to grow food on its own land.
"We need to be able to provide food to other countries, and import products we don't manufacture back from them," he said.
"But the Chinese government and supported companies over there have said they are going to spend in excess of $560 billion on foreign land by 2015, which is only three years away, and Australia is one of their primary targets.
"Let's face it, wars have been fought for years over religion, water and food, and we're facing unprecedented demand. We should be smart and not selling the family farms."
Federal Independent Senator Nick Xenophon said successive Australian governments have been "dunderheads" for not looking at the implications of foreign purchases.
He said the strategic ownership of water and agribusinesses could have a profound effect on farming. He wanted ACCC merger and aquisition laws strengthened as well.
"Right now, an agribusiness that buys into a food processing area can dominate the livelihoods of hundreds of farmers," he said.
"I actually praise China, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. They are smart and can see the world food task is one of the biggest challenges in the 21st century.
"But what the hell is wrong with the New Zealand model, where their overseas investment office looks at anything over 5 hectares?
"It's effective robust and accountable, why can't we do that? Instead, we're in this black hole with a lack of information, and all this hand wringing and claims we can't do anything about it's rubbish."
*Full report in Stock Journal, January 26 issue, 2012.
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