The changing role of the Firb and the politics of foreign investment in Australia

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6234664
AutoresDavid Hundt (0000-0003-2019-1927, Deakin University, autor correspondente)
Ano2020
Volume55
Fascículo3
Páginas328-343
Data de publicação2020-07-02
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAustralian Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1036-1146 • E-ISSN: 1363-030X
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10361146.2020.1766415
OpenAlexW3028133192
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas3
Referências citadas15

Australia's policy on foreign investment aims to achieve both the liberal goal of maximising capital inflows and the statist one of ensuring that those inflows are in 'the national interest'. This article analyses the tensions between these goals through interviews with policymakers who have direct knowledge of the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB), which has functioned as an 'offstage', pre-market regulator for capital inflows to Australia. The tensions between these policy goals were manageable because the FIRB exercised its powers rarely, decisively and quietly, and the government believed that foreign investment did not threaten the national interest. The emergence of state-owned enterprises as foreign investors, however, significantly altered this calculus, and the FIRB has been tasked with assessing the national security implications of proposed investments. Instead of working offstage, as in earlier decades, the FIRB has become central to debates about how Australia should respond to the rise of China

Business · Capital (architecture · Capital investment · China · Economic growth · Economic policy · Economics · Foreign capital · Foreign direct investment · Government (linguistics · International trade · Investment (military · Political science · Politics · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs · Law · Natural Resources and Economic Development · Public Administration · State Capitalism and Financial Governance · Finance