Independent Senator Nick Xenophon has written to Treasurer Scott Morrison to ask whether Australian security agencies have been consulted over the possible $10 billion sale by the NSW government of AUSGRID − the state-owned corporation which supplies electricity to 1.6 million homes and businesses across Sydney, the Central Coast and the Hunter regions.
The State Grid Corporation of China is one of two bidders expected to lodge an offer by the 25 July deadline.
“Any sale to a foreign government-owned company should raise significant national interest concerns on this basis alone,” Senator Xenophon wrote in his letter earlier this week.
“Can you please advise whether advice has been sought from ASIO and Defence in relation to any concerns that they may have about this proposed transaction,” he added − a reference to the lease of Darwin Port to the Chinese-owned Landbridge Group, who won control of the northern port for 99 years, under a $506 million lease agreement with the NT government last year.
Senator Xenophon said the nature of the national electricity market made the AUSGRID sale an issue of national significance, despite it being a state asset, and that the linkages between state power systems meant that issues in one state could have “a domino effect” on others.
The SA senator has said he intends to re-introduce a bill to amend the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act in a bid to strengthen the national interest test and increase the transparency of foreign investment decisions.
