Foreign Investment Reform (Protecting Australia's National Security) Regulations 2020 (F2020L01568)

Schedule 3   Reinstating monetary thresholds

Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Regulation 2015

3   After subsection 40(1)

Insert:

Thresholds for agricultural land acquired by certain investors

(2) A relevant agreement country investor, or an enterprise or national of Thailand (other than a foreign government investor), who takes an action relating to an interest in agricultural land may, for the purposes of subsections 52(2) and (3) of the Act, disregard the fact that the land is agricultural land.

Note 1: The effect of this subsection is that the threshold test in, and the thresholds prescribed for the purposes of, subsection 52(3) (and not subsection 52(2)) of the Act apply in relation to the land.

Note 2: Agricultural land that is not used wholly and exclusively for a primary production business may also be residential land or commercial land.

Wind or solar power station owners and operators

(2A) An owner or operator, or an associate of an owner or operator, of a wind or solar power station, who takes an action relating to an interest in agricultural land for the sole purpose of acquiring or operating a wind or solar power station already located on the land (whether on or beneath the surface) may, for the purposes of subsections 52(2) and (3) of the Act, disregard the fact that the land is agricultural land.