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Category: Government and Politics / Business, Economics and Finance / Foreign Affairs

Coalition cracks down on illegal foreign-owned property

Monday, 19 Sep 2016 11:05:57 | Stephanie Anderson

Full of hope, good jobs in farming (Greg OBrien: user submitted)

Sixteen international investors will have houses worth up to $2 million forced onto the market, after they were found in breach of Australia's foreign investment rules.

It is the latest instalment of the Coalition's crackdown on foreign-owned property, which has identified more than 40 purchases that defy the regulations.

More than $90 million in property has been forcibly sold, with the latest 16 properties worth $14 million combined.

The properties in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia were originally purchased by investors from China, Malaysia, Canada and the UK.

In January, the Federal Government ordered the sale of eight properties illegally bought by foreign investors, totalling $8.3 million.

Treasurer Scott Morrison said the divestment orders showed that the Government's increased compliance measures were working.

"There has been some 2,200 matters referred for investigation and 400 cases remaining under active investigation since the new penalty regime was introduced," he said.

"One hundred and seventy-nine penalties notices have been issued, totalling some hundreds of thousands in fines."

The announcement comes less than a fortnight after the Government released its register of foreign-owned farmland, which showed that overseas interests owned 13.6 per cent of Australia's farmland.

UK-based investors own 27.5 million hectares or almost 53 per cent of that portion.

External Link: Foreign Ownership Data Wrap

AustraliaPlus


 

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