"the CBH model in wa works well. the growers control the co-op ,...

"the CBH model in wa works well. the growers control the co-op , and they get rebates on deliveries. you cant be a shareholder if your not a grower."

As a CBH shareholder I can tell you this comment is pure unadulterated claptrap! CBH has just spent circa A$300 million on a fleet of narrow guage trains and carts and manufactured a $1/t freight saving (this money came from debt markets). Now they have realised the actual rail lines are so delapidated that they can only run half the carts they want to and at a pace a stable horse could beat. And resale value on those trains? Well lets just say there are no other narrow guage networks in Australia operating bulk! Disasterous investment decision driven by politics. Co-ops are run politically not with business smarts.

This decision to block the sale of Graincorp also impacts CBH's ability to move to a corporate model because appetite for its shares will now be diluted. Who is going to invest in agriculture when you have a governmnet prepared to devalue the assets you need to run a farm business?

So excuse my strong feelings on this issue. Anyone who supports this decision is xenophobic to the core, ignorant in nature and guilty of envy.

The government has just delivered this asset cheaply to foreign interests in any case.