Foreign Investment into Australia

Foreign investment into Australia is welcomed by the Federal Government as it makes a substantial contribution to the development of Australia. Real estate investment is dealt with differently from other asset classes.

Practice area overview

Any foreign investment proposal into Australia must comply with the laws of the Federal Government and the State Government where the investment is located (and also, in some cases, with the laws of local governments which derive their authority from the relevant State Government).

If an acquisition requires approval by the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB), foreign purchaser(s) must notify the Government before acquiring the interest. If a contract is entered into it should be conditional upon FIRB approval so that the contract remains conditional until after FIRB approval is granted. Foreign persons will be in breach of the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 if they enter an unconditional contract to acquire property (or if their conditional contract becomes unconditional) before FIRB is granted and may be subject to penalties.

What we do:

We provide advice on the FATA and the associated policy ‘Guidelines’ issued by the Federal Government when proposals by foreign persons require FIRB approval.