RSS Feed
October 27th, 2023 
Awake Goy 
In Whose Interest Are Big Businesses Working?
US Investors Hold Sway Over Australia’s Largest Corporations
Analysis of corporate ownership data reveals that US investors wield significant influence on Australian economy and politics through their ownership in Australia’s largest companies.
-
Fifteen of Australia’s largest corporations are majority owned by US investors, including Commonwealth Bank, BHP (“the Big Australian”), Wesfarmers (owner of Coles) and Woolworths.
-
All of Australia’s “big four” banks are majority US-owned.
-
Large Australian food manufacturing companies like Kraft Foods are majority owned by US investors. Until 2007, Kraft was owned by tobacco giant Altria (formerly Philip Morris).
-
The UK is the second largest foreign investor in Australia, comprising around 30 percent of foreign investment.
Why Does This Matter? US investors’ overwhelming influence in Australian business matters because it affects our democracy, financial interests, and Australia’s sovereignty. The overwhelming American influence on our biggest businesses places significant pressure on Australia’s politicians and public services, and distorts decision-making in favour of overseas interests rather than Australian interests.
-
The Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB), the body which advises on “national interest” when overseas investors attempt to buy Australian companies, knocks back only about 2 percent of foreign acquisition proposals.
-
Corporate profiteering and price gouging is responsible for around 60 percent of Australia’s cost-of-living crisis.
-
Excess profits have been a major driver of inflation since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
-
85 percent of items in the average supermarket trolley are made by foreign-owned companies.
-
The majority of profits made by foreign-owned corporations go overseas.
-
Almost 800 big businesses paid no company tax last year, and 168 have paid no tax at all since 2013.
-
Majority foreign-owned mining and fossil fuel companies successfully opposed major government reforms, including the Carbon Tax, and the Mining Super Profits Tax.
-
Transparency laws necessitate disclosing foreign influence, but understanding the extent of foreign ownership is vital for informed democratic decisions.
-
Investors use complex ownership structures to hide foreign ownership.
-
Polling by the Australia Institute shows that most Australians think that foreign ownership of banks is less than 40 percent.
Tracking foreign investment in Australia is challenging. The threshold for scrutiny of foreign investment decisions was increased from $5 million to $310 million. Under Australia’s free-trade agreement with the US, the threshold for scrutiny increased to $1.3 billion for US investors.
Who are the US investors? The largest global investors are massive investment corporations that own trillions of dollars of shares and other assets. The largest is Blackrock Investments, a virtually unregulated firm that owns more wealth than Japan and Germany have in GDP.
What could be done? As a minimum transparency measure, a public register of foreign ownership should be established. Australia is one of the few advanced economies without this kind of register. This basic mechanism would be a first step into a larger public inquiry into foreign ownership, examining lobbying and other influence overseas investors have on Australia’s democracy, economy and national interest.
Source: newhorizon.news
Posted in 
Tags: 
