Australia should 'take back the land' from China as damages

Sky News Australia
China should be made to pay reparations for the outbreak of the coronavirus, but given they are unlikely to do so "maybe (Australia) can take back the land that their foreign owned corporations have as damages" says Nationals MP George Christensen. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has set the dollar value which would trigger a review into a foreign investment bid to zero, meaning all foreign investment bids reviewed by the Foreign Investment Review Boarded will be weighed up against the national interest. Mr Christensen the treasurer understands public sentiment is against letting "state-owned corporations out of China swoop up and pick up Australian companies and Australian farm land for a song". "It's not in the national interest to have state owned corporations owning Australian companies," Mr Christensen said. "Unless they're contributing something … (like) extra jobs, growth, (or) new activity that's going to benefit the whole community, you're going to have to question whether that's in the national interest". He told Sky News hosts Alan Jones and Peta Credlin foreign state-owned companies own Australian milk companies, agribusiness, and even the Darwin Port, but the coronavirus will "ensure there is a big rethink on how we do business with" China. "When you say state-owned corporations, you're mainly talking about China."