Only weeks after cobbling together a discussion paper on foreign investment, the chasm in the Coalition is widening, said Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury.
Last Friday, when asked on radio about the role of the Foreign Investment Review Board in examining proposals to acquire Cubbie station, Tony Abbott was happy to back in Australia's current foreign investment regime:
ABBOTT: That would have to go before the Foreign Investment Review Board.
ALAN JONES: They've approved it.
ABBOTT: Well they would have looked at the national interest issues. I can appreciate a lot of people would be dismayed but look they would have carefully looked at it, they would have looked at what investment the Chinese are bringing in, what improvements the Chinese intend to make; are the Chinese going to be an active contributor to the local economy.
(2GB, 31 August 2012)
However, since Friday Mr Abbott has gone into hiding while his Coalition colleagues have run wild.
Senator Barnaby Joyce has gone on a media rampage, telling anyone who will listen that the Cubbie transaction is not in Australia's national interest and should be somehow reversed:
I think there might be the capacity of a disallowance motion of it and if that's the issue then we have to pursue.
(2GB, 31 August 2012)
Meanwhile, Nationals Leader Warren Truss has called for the shutters to be rolled down on foreign investment:
Cubbie Station is likely to be the most expensive farm in the country. If it is in the national interest for it to be sold, will Labor ever say no to the sale of any Australian farm or agribusiness?
(Press release, 3 September 2012)
Cubbie Station has been under administration for the last three years after experiencing serious financial difficulties and without this new investment there is a very real risk of the loss of around 170 jobs and a vital economic driver in the Dirranbandi and St George regions of Queensland.
The Government has sought strict undertakings from the parties involved, including to ensure offers of employment are made to all existing staff and the properties are run on a commercial basis by Australian-based management.
The Coalition can't hide their vicious divisions behind a discussion paper. Mr Abbott and Mr Hockey should come out and say whether they support the comments of their Coalition colleagues or whether they support foreign investment and the benefits that it can deliver for jobs in Australia.