The federal opposition insists it is not against foreign investment, despite proposing a plan to toughen rules for international investors looking to buy Australian agricultural land.
Under a coalition government, foreign investors will be required to reveal any state influence in their operations and overseas buyers seeking ownership in Australian agricultural land will need to seek Canberra's approval for purchases over $15 million, down from the current $244 million threshold.
The coalition also will develop a national register of foreign ownership of real property in co-operation with state land titles offices.
The details were released in a discussion paper unveiled by Opposition Leader Tony Abbott who insisted the coalition wasn't opposed to foreign investment in Australia.
"We need it, we want it, it is essential for our continued national prosperity," he told reporters in Sydney.
But it is important that Australians are confident that foreign investment is in the country's national interest.
"That's what this paper is about," Mr Abbott said.
An Abbott-led government would increase the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) to seven members, including at least one person with agricultural sector expertise.
The FIRB will review any proposed foreign acquisition of an agribusiness where the investment is more than $53 million, or represents a stake of at least 15 per cent in an agribusiness valued at $244 million or more, whichever is smaller.
Nationals leader Warren Truss said other world economies had their own rules on foreign investment.
"There are a wide range of precedents," he told reporters.
"I don't belive there's any country in the world that can cast stones at Australia in relation to our foreign investment policy."
Trade Minister Craig Emerson accused the opposition of "economic Hansonism" over its claims about the level of foreign investment in Australia.
The opposition was manufacturing a problem where it didn't exist, pointing to a "negligible" 0.1 per cent rise in the level of foreign ownership in Australian agricultural land between 1984 and 2010.
Finance Minister Penny Wong said foreign investment generated jobs and economic growth.
"Australia has always been a capital-hungry country and we've always needed more investment than we ourselves could generate," she told Sky News.
