As Australia continues to grapple with the health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, our governments are taking decisions which may well have an enduring effect beyond the pandemic itself.
Our strong and effective public health response to date has helped Australia avoid the worst impacts of the pandemic experienced in other parts of the world. However, as Melbourne’s renewed lockdown shows, getting on top of COVID-19 remains a persistent challenge.
While our international borders will remain closed for some time to come, that doesn’t mean we need to be shut off from the rest of the world, especially when it comes to international capital flows which underpin much of the investment in the property sector.
Australian governments have progressively introduced more restrictions on property investment in recent years. This includes recent changes to Foreign Investment Review Board thresholds which now capture virtually all foreign investment proposals.
We certainly understand and respect the Government’s desire to introduce a stronger national security focus into our foreign investment arrangements, but this shouldn’t mean more red tape for uncontentious investment decisions like in real estate.
Keeping Australia open for investment should be an essential pillar of our economic recovery strategy. Australia’s prosperity over several decades has been underwritten by being part of an open global market for capital.
We need to keep playing to our strengths. Australia is potentially better placed to recover from COVID-19 than many other countries and we mustn’t deal ourselves out of the contest.