On 5 June 2020, the Federal Government announced a series of changes (Reforms) to Australia’s Foreign Investment framework.

Broadly amongst other changes, the Reforms:
• Introduce a new category of ‘notifiable national security actions’ and ‘reviewable national security actions’ which allow the Treasurer to review actions based on national security grounds; 
• Give the Treasurer greater information gathering and sharing powers;
• Give the Treasurer standard investigative and monitoring powers in line with other Australian regulatory bodies; and
• Significantly expands the penalty regime and enforcement powers of the Treasurer.

On 31 July 2020, the Government released the draft of the Foreign Investment Reform (Protecting Australia’s National Security) Bill 2020 which gives effect to the Reforms. A copy of the draft Bill is available on the Treasury website located here.

Interested stakeholders are invited to submit their views and feedback to the Treasury by 31 August 2020.

If you have any questions concerning how these Reforms impact you, or if you would like us to assist you in making a submission to the Treasury, please contact the Commercial Team at Macpherson Kelley.

Contact: 
Ed Browne
principal lawyer, commercial
Melbourne, Vic
+61 3 9208 9884
[email protected]