00:01After months of consideration by the Foreign Investment Review Board, Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers today approved the sale of Tasmania's
00:09biggest farm to the UK's largest forestry investor, finding the sale is not contrary to the national interest.
00:16But Tasmanian farmers disagree.
00:19I think extreme disappointment on behalf of the agricultural industry and the North East community that really does feel like
00:27it's been sold out and not consulted with as part of this announced sale today.
00:32Disappointment is my initial reaction. It's been a long campaign to try and get our voice heard and it obviously
00:40hasn't been heard.
00:40Rushy Lagoon covers nearly 22,000 hectares near Tasmania's North East tip. Its new owner, the Tasmanian Natural Asset Trust,
00:49which is managed by the UK's Gresham House, plans to create a pine plantation on the property. Farmers want the
00:56land kept for agricultural production.
00:58I think it definitely could set a very dangerous precedent at a time where the state government is trying to
01:05grow with industry.
01:06In a statement, the group behind the project say it will generate 190 jobs over the project's lifetime and generate
01:135 million tonnes of timber.
01:15But those figures have been questioned by the local farming community, who say those jobs won't exist until 25 years
01:20time when the trees reach maturity.
01:23The group also says it plans to restore wetlands and conservation areas, which are home to several threatened species.
01:29The Australian government-owned Clean Energy Finance Corporation, which funds renewable energy projects, is investing nearly $70 million in the
01:39project.
01:40You know, this project is really about investing in Australia's future, you know, beyond tomorrow.
01:46It is multi-generational investment, so we're very excited about that.
01:50But its involvement has attracted criticism.
01:53Government shouldn't be intervening and distorting local agricultural markets.
01:57That's a very, very simple premise.
02:00They shouldn't be involved in that.
02:02A big real estate deal causing a big headache for farmers.
02:05It belongs to the public and what it is.
02:07The public and what it is, don't be a bad thing about the farmers.
02:09They should look good at the farmers' kind of a farm.
02:09If you notice, it cannot be called an farm.
02:09You know when you see a farm .
02:10You are giving a farm.
02:10I'm telling you to see a farm with the farmers' corn, which are not three, from the farmers.
02:10And you are doing the farmers' kind and the farmers' kind of new farmers' land inutes.
02:10I know that the farmers'æ' corn, which are not one.
02:10If you don't know that the farmers' corn, you're using soy to sagte tea and you can do not make
02:11But you can obviously tell me how to sell them to be
Comments