Great letter to the Editor in todays West Australian, page-55

you need evidence that Australian resource companies are mostly foreign owned
that tells us a lot about you

“Based on the search results, a significant portion of Australian resource companies appear to be foreign owned:

1. According to a 2022 study, the top 30 companies in Australia by sales value (including both listed and unlisted companies) are 79% foreign owned[2].

2. The same study found that companies profiting from Australia's $62.5 billion LNG industry are on average 95.7% foreign owned[2].

3. A 2011 study commissioned by the Australian Greens concluded that 83% of the Australian mining industry is foreign owned. This estimate was later supported by Treasury analysis that put foreign ownership of major mining projects at 86%[4].

4. Specific examples of foreign ownership in resources include:

- BHP, once known as "the Big Australian", is 73% owned by American-based investors[6].

- Rio Tinto is more than 60% owned by American-based investors[6].

5. As of 2010, foreign investors partly or wholly owned 11% of farm land in Australia, with higher percentages in certain states like the Northern Territory (23.8%) and South Australia (12.1%)[3].

While the exact percentages may have changed since some of these studies were conducted, the overall trend indicates a high level of foreign ownership in Australian resource and mining companies, particularly from American investors.

Sources
[1] [PDF] economic-activity-of-majority-foreign-owned-business-in-australia.pdf https://www.dfat.gov.au/sites/defau...ority-foreign-owned-business-in-australia.pdf
[2] Foreign investment in Australia: Australian big business is not ... https://apo.org.au/node/318210
[3] Foreign investment in Australian agriculture - Parliament of Australia https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parlia...amentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1314/ForeignInvest
[4] Foreign investment in Australia - Australian big business is not very https://policycommons.net/artifacts/4630425/foreign-investment-in-australia/5454820/
[5] Economic Activity of Foreign Owned Businesses in Australia, 2014-15 https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/5494.0
[6] Worried about agents of foreign influence? Just look at who owns ... https://theconversation.com/worried...-who-owns-australias-biggest-companies-123343
[7] [PDF] Foreign Investment Reform (Protecting Australia's National Security ... https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-10/c2021-193739-amec.pdf
[8] [PDF] Economic activity of foreign-owned businesses in Australia - 2014-15 https://www.dfat.gov.au/sites/default/files/foreign-owned-businesses-2014-15-mining.pdf