THE Foreign Investment Review Board is reinforcing its reputation as one of Canberra's most secretive bodies, with no sign of its 2007-08 annual report more than a year after the end of the financial year.
While the stock exchange-listed companies whose fate depends significantly on the FIRB's deliberations must deliver their annual reports within four months of the end of their financial year, the foreign investment watchdog has yet to deliver its report after more than 12 months.
The board, which advises the Treasurer on applications for foreign investment, has been thrust into the spotlight with a trio of applications by Chinese government-controlled companies seeking to take over Australian resource assets.
While Hunan Valin Iron and Steel's move to take a stake in the Fortescue Metals Group was approved, Chinese Minmetal's play for OZ Minerals was initially rejected on national security grounds before a modified bid was approved. Chinalco's bid to raise its stake in Rio Tinto was withdrawn just weeks before the FIRB was due to pass its decision to Treasurer Wayne Swan.
Although the FIRB undertakes confidential consultations with government departments and takes submissions from interested parties in cases that are already in the public domain, its decision-making remains secretive even to those with a close interest in the outcome. Its recommendations are passed directly to the Treasurer and are rarely made public.
The sluggish reporting comes despite Mr Swan last year claiming he was improving the transparency of the foreign investment screening process. In contrast to the FIRB, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation tabled its 2007-08 annual report — in unclassified form, at least — in Parliament on October 22 last year.
Even when the FIRB annual report is eventually released, it is expected to reveal little about the Treasury-controlled body's deliberations. The 2006-07 annual report reveals only the number of applications and the decisions made, but does not identify the companies subject to applications.
In 2006-07 the board made decisions on $156 billion worth of proposed investment, approving 6157 applications and rejecting 39. A further 629 were withdrawn. A Treasury spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
