Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

FOREIGN ACQUISITIONS AND TAKEOVERS ACT 1975 - SECT 21A

             (1)  In this section:

"foreign person" means:

                     (a)  a foreign corporation in which a natural person not ordinarily resident in Australia or a foreign corporation holds a substantial interest; or

                     (b)  a foreign corporation in which 2 or more persons, each of whom is a natural person not ordinarily resident in Australia or a foreign corporation, hold an aggregate substantial interest.

             (2)  Where the Treasurer is satisfied that:

                     (a)  a foreign person proposes to acquire an interest in Australian urban land; and

                     (b)  the proposed acquisition would be contrary to the national interest;

the Treasurer may make an order prohibiting the proposed acquisition.

             (3)  Where the Treasurer makes such an order in relation to an interest in Australian urban land, he or she may also make an order in relation to:

                     (a)  a specified foreign person; or

                     (b)  a specified foreign person and specified associates, or the persons included in a specified class of associates, of that person;

directing that that person shall not, or none of those persons shall, whether alone or together with any other or others of them, acquire:

                     (c) any interest in the land or other thing concerned; or

                     (d)  any such interest except to a specified extent.

             (4)  Where a foreign person has acquired an interest in Australian urban land and the Treasurer is satisfied that the acquisition is contrary to the national interest, the Treasurer may make an order directing the foreign person to dispose of that interest within a specified period to any person or persons approved in writing by the Treasurer.

             (5)  Before the end of the period specified in the order or of that period as extended under this subsection, the Treasurer may, by writing signed by the Treasurer, extend or further extend that period or that period as so extended, and in that event the order has effect as if the period as so extended or further extended had been specified in the order.

             (6)  For the purposes of subsection (4), but without limiting the generality of that subsection:

                     (a)  a foreign person shall be taken to have acquired an interest in Australian urban land if the person becomes, with or without the knowledge of the person, a beneficiary in a trust estate (other than a deceased estate) that consists of or includes an interest in Australian urban land; and

                     (b)  where paragraph (a) applies and the trust estate is a discretionary trust estate--a reference to the disposal of the interest of the foreign person is a reference to the disposal of such assignable benefits in relation to that trust estate as may ultimately vest in that foreign person.

             (7)  The Treasurer shall not refuse to approve a person for the purposes of subsection (4) unless the Treasurer is satisfied that the person is a foreign person and that it would be contrary to the national interest for that person to acquire the interest concerned.