Title: Australia's foreign investment approval regime: a new way forward

Authors: Andrew Lumsden; Lizzie Knight

Addresses: Corrs Chambers Westgarth, 8-12 Chifley Square Sydney NSW 2000, Australia ' Corrs Chambers Westgarth, 8-12 Chifley Square Sydney NSW 2000, Australia

Abstract: Australia's national interest is well-served by having a foreign investment regime that has the right balance between flexibility and certainty. One highly successful aspect of that policy has been the ability to use conditional approvals to ensure that applicants behave in a manner that is consistent with the national interest. The government's new legislation is an ambitious and important attempt to modernise the 40-year old foreign investment rules. We consider the new legislation successfully builds on the system including a conditional approval regime that has been improved to reflect best regulatory practices and support ongoing investment.

Keywords: Australia; foreign investment regime; policy reform.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPP.2017.086062

International Journal of Public Policy, 2017 Vol.13 No.3/4/5, pp.232 - 243

Received: 19 Aug 2015
Accepted: 11 May 2016

Published online: 22 Aug 2017 *

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