On 11 February 2015, the Government announced a suite of reforms designed to increase transparency around foreign investment in Australia. These reforms included the establishment of a foreign ownership register of agricultural land and changes to Australia’s foreign investment screening regime as it applies to acquisitions of agricultural land.

The Register of Foreign Ownership of Agricultural Land (Agricultural Land Register) was established on 1 July 2015 and is administered by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). The Register of Foreign Ownership of Agricultural Land Act 2015 (Agricultural Land Register Act 2015) requires foreign persons with an interest in agricultural land to register that interest on the Agricultural Land Register, regardless of the value of the land.

A stocktake was conducted between 1 July 2015 and 29 February 2016 to enable existing foreign person land holders to register their land. During this time, the ATO used data matching to contact investors who may have met the definition of foreign person and who held Australian land that may have met the definition of agricultural land.

The Commissioner of Taxation is required to report to the Treasurer on the operation of the Agricultural Land Register Act 2015, as well as publish aggregate statistics on a website. The report must not release information which could identify, or reasonably be used to identify an individual or entity.