A Productivity Commission report which has just been released has revealed that the official data on Chinese foreign ownership which the nation relies upon is flawed, and the real foreign ownership figure could be as much as three times greater.

This report shows that we are essentially flying blind when it comes to determining the extent of foreign ownership in this country because we are not tracking ownership through to the original source.

It points out that there have been other attempts to identify Chinese foreign ownership for example, and it states that ‘inflows into Australia with ultimate beneficial ownership by an investor in China could be averaging about three times as high over recent years as inflows from China measured by immediate ownership’. *

That Chinese investment could be three times greater than we think sets alarm bells ringing.

As Chair of the Parliament’s Trade and Investment Growth committee, which is currently conducting an inquiry into the levels of foreign ownership in Australia, I will be asking that the Productivity Commission make a submission to the inquiry based on this new research.

Senator Matthew Canavan said the Productivity Commission research paper titled Foreign Investment in Australia highlighted the difficulties of data collection.

“This report points out that our data-gathering agencies such as the ABS will identify the country of origin based on the ‘immediate owner’, rather than the ‘ultimate beneficial owner,” Senator Canavan said.

“For example, there might be a managed investment fund based in Britain purchasing land or shares in Australia, but the majority owners of that British fund could be a state-owned enterprise in another country.

“This just shows how important the government’s strengthening of foreign investment controls is.

“Questions need to be answered about the official data and why It can’t be made more accurate.”