Dick buys AAco shares to get in debate
MATTHEW CRANSTON, AFR
OUTSPOKEN entrepreneur and aviator Dick Smith has bought $1 million worth of shares in Australian Agricultural Co (AAco) - Australia s second-largest landholder - because he doesn t want to sound hypocritical when he campaigns against foreign ownership of farms. I am concerned about foreigners buying all our good agricultural land, he told the
Australian Financial Review, and so I thought I had better own some of this land so I can talk about this issue.
Mr Smith, whose comments came after the federal government recently pledged to create a national register for foreign ownership of farms, is now one of the largest shareholders in AAco, which owns about 7 million hectares of prime pastoral land.