Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) In this section:
"arrangement" , in relation to an Australian business, means an arrangement relating to the leasing or letting on hire of, or the granting of other rights to use, assets of such a business or relating to the participation by a person in the profits or management of such a business;
(a) a foreign corporation in which a natural person not ordinarily resident in Australia or a foreign corporation holds a controlling interest; or
(b) a foreign corporation in which 2 or more persons, each of whom is either a natural person not ordinarily resident in Australia or a foreign corporation, hold an aggregate controlling interest.
(2) Where the Treasurer is satisfied that:
(a) a person proposes to enter into an arrangement in relation to an Australian business carried on solely by a prescribed corporation or prescribed corporations or proposes to terminate an arrangement that exists in relation to such an Australian business;
(b) the proposal, if carried out, would have the result that:
(i) in the case of a business not controlled by foreign persons--the business would be controlled by foreign persons; or
(ii) in the case of a business controlled by foreign persons--the business would continue to be controlled by foreign persons, but those persons would include a person who is not, or would not include a person who is, one of the foreign persons first referred to in this subparagraph; and
(c) that result would be contrary to the national interest;
the Treasurer may make an order prohibiting the entering into of the proposed arrangement or prohibiting the termination of the existing arrangement, as the case may be.
(3) Where an arrangement has been entered into in relation to an Australian business carried on solely by a prescribed corporation or prescribed corporations or an arrangement that existed in relation to such an Australian business has been terminated, and the Treasurer is satisfied that:
(a) the entering into or the termination of the arrangement has had, or will have, the result that:
(i) in the case of a business that, before the entering into or termination of the arrangement, was not controlled by foreign persons--the business is or will be controlled by foreign persons; or
(ii) in the case of a business that, before the entering into or termination of the arrangement, was controlled by foreign persons--the business continues or will continue to be controlled by foreign persons, but those persons include or will include a person who is not, or do not or will not include a person who is, one of the foreign persons first referred to in this subparagraph; and
(b) that result is or will be contrary to the national interest;
the Treasurer may, for the purpose of restoring the control of the business as closely as possible to the position in which it was before the arrangement was entered into or terminated or for the purpose of preventing the occurrence of a change in the control of the business of a kind referred to in paragraph (a), as the case may be, make orders directing specified persons to do within a specified time, or refrain from doing, specified acts or acts of a specified kind.
(4) Where a time is specified in an order made under subsection (3), the Treasurer may, before the expiration of that time or of that time as extended under this subsection, by writing signed by him or her, extend or further extend that time or that time as so extended, and in that event the order has effect as if the time as so extended or further extended had been specified in the order.
(5) For the purposes of this section:
(a) an Australian business shall be taken to be controlled by foreign persons if, and only if, the Treasurer is satisfied that a foreign person or foreign persons, alone or together with an associate or associates of that foreign person or of any of those foreign persons, is or are in a position to determine the policy of the business in relation to any matter; and
(b) where an Australian business is so taken to be controlled by foreign persons by reason that a foreign person or foreign persons, together with an associate or associates, are in a position to determine the policy of the business, references to the foreign persons who control that business include references to that associate or those associates, whether or not that associate is, or those associates are, in fact foreign persons.