Innovation Assignment
Dick Smith grabs a stake in cattle company Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith. Dick Smith is criticial of foreign companies buying up Australian land.
Kim Honan
346 words
1 August 2012
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) News
ABCNEW
English
(c) 2012 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
After a $1 million investment, entrepreneur Dick Smith is now a major shareholder of the country's largest beef producer, the Australian Agricultural Company (AAco).
AAco is also Australia's second largest landholder with seven million hectares of properties across the Northern Territory and Queensland.
Mr Smith says although there's no return on land at the moment he believes that in the long-term it will be a good investment.
"Most importantly, I wanted to show people that if I'm saying 'Look, we shouldn't be encouraging all this sell-off of our wonderful farm land, we should be buying it ourselves'," he said.
"I wanted to show that I was prepared to do that, and I certainly am.
Mr Smith believes that there will be better times ahead for Australian farmers and a return to wealth.
"When I was a kid in the 1950s, all my relatives on the land were wealthy and we were poor living in the city, but now it's reversed, but I'm sure it's going to go back the other way," he said.
"With the standard of living rising in many developing countries, they're going to want our beautiful food and I'm hoping then the farming community will be able to make a good living again.
"But they'll only be able to do that if we haven't sold all the land off, and we've got to somehow say to our politicians, 'Look, it's okay to show a bit of leadership and say we'll have better economic times in the short term if we sell everything off, because it's quick cash in, but in the long term it'll be worse off, so we're going to suffer a bit and not sell'."
Mr Smith is particularly critical of the Chinese Government investing in Australia, given the restrictions China itself has on foreign
Kim Honan
346 words
1 August 2012
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) News
ABCNEW
English
(c) 2012 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
After a $1 million investment, entrepreneur Dick Smith is now a major shareholder of the country's largest beef producer, the Australian Agricultural Company (AAco).
AAco is also Australia's second largest landholder with seven million hectares of properties across the Northern Territory and Queensland.
Mr Smith says although there's no return on land at the moment he believes that in the long-term it will be a good investment.
"Most importantly, I wanted to show people that if I'm saying 'Look, we shouldn't be encouraging all this sell-off of our wonderful farm land, we should be buying it ourselves'," he said.
"I wanted to show that I was prepared to do that, and I certainly am.
Mr Smith believes that there will be better times ahead for Australian farmers and a return to wealth.
"When I was a kid in the 1950s, all my relatives on the land were wealthy and we were poor living in the city, but now it's reversed, but I'm sure it's going to go back the other way," he said.
"With the standard of living rising in many developing countries, they're going to want our beautiful food and I'm hoping then the farming community will be able to make a good living again.
"But they'll only be able to do that if we haven't sold all the land off, and we've got to somehow say to our politicians, 'Look, it's okay to show a bit of leadership and say we'll have better economic times in the short term if we sell everything off, because it's quick cash in, but in the long term it'll be worse off, so we're going to suffer a bit and not sell'."
Mr Smith is particularly critical of the Chinese Government investing in Australia, given the restrictions China itself has on foreign