Treasurer Scott Morrison may be emphasising the low level of foreign ownership of Aussie farmland but Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce doesn't appear to agree.
The United Kingdom has emerged as the biggest owner of agricultural land, with the largest stake by land holding, in a new report released on Wednesday.
China is fifth behind the US, Netherlands and Singapore.
Mr Morrison stressed that about 85 per cent of farmland remains in Australian hands and less than half a per cent is owned by Chinese interests.
The biggest sale of agricultural land he's ever approved was to Dutch and Canadian interests.
The treasurer used the report's release to warn against the rise of protectionist sentiment, saying foreign investment was important and Australia could not put its economic future at risk by engaging in protectionism.
"It helps us to make the case because around the world today - and there are elements of this here in Australia - there is a longing to perhaps ... to pull the head under the doona," he told Sky News.
But Acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, who's long fought for the register's creation, has stressed how big the level of foreign ownership is.
He pointed to data showing just over 52 million hectares is foreign owned - more than twice the size of Victoria.
"When people dismiss it as not much - well that's a substantial amount of land," he told ABC radio.
The Nationals leader said the Chinese level of holding would have been substantially higher if the sale of S.Kidman & Co had been approved.
"It's just like houses. If someone said 13 per cent of houses in Sydney were foreign-owned, people wold start having some serious concerns.
"We have a duty as a politicians first and foremost to make sure the greatest beneficiary of the Australian assets is the Australian people."
Who owns our farmland?
The key findings of the first report into the Register of Foreign Ownership of Agricultural Land.
- 13.6 per cent of Australian farmland is owned by foreigners
- Most of that is owned by UK investors (more than 52 per cent)
- China owns less than half a per cent (0.38 per cent)
- 52.1 million hectares of total farmland, more than two times the size of Victoria, is foreign owned
Top countries that own the most agricultural land by size:
1. United Kingdom
2. United States
3. Netherlands
4. Singapore
5. China
6. Philippines
7. Switzerland
8. Jersey
9. Indonesia
10. Japan
