Katter bill aims to stop sale of Cubbie Station
OUTSPOKEN North Queensland MP Bob Katter is attempting to stop the sale of Cubbie Station to a Chinse-led consortium.
Mr Katter introduced a private member's bill on Monday what would amend the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Bill to direct the treasurer to prohibit the sale of Cubbie Station to a foreign person or company, or if already sold, to make an order for that share to be disposed of to someone approved by the treasurer.
Mr Katter is concerned about a number of aspects relating to the sale, including the bids of Australians interests not being considered.
"Our biggest water licence hasn't been bought by the government for environmental flows - it's been sold to foreigners," Mr Katter said.
"What the government should have done was to break Cubbie station up into 10 or 12 civilised sizes, where there would be owner-operators… but instead of doing that they sold it as one big heap to a foreign corporation."
The Foreign Investment Review Board approved the sale earlier this year to a consortium led by the Shandong RuYi Group.
Meanwhile, Mr Katter is set to join other parliamentarians in addressing media at Parliament House on Wednesday regarding a petition, to be tabled in Parliament, in which some 50,000 people demand a halt to the overseas sell-off of Australia's land and wealth-creating assets.
