Aussies band together to try and buy iconic farm from controversial Chinese ... trends now
Aussies are banding together in an audacious bid to reclaim national ownership of a breathtakingly beautiful piece of coastal farmland that a Chinese billionaire has put on the market.
The 200-year-old 'Woolnorth' dairy farm in northwest Tasmania is being sold by Chinese billionaire Xianfeng Lu, drawing to a close what a controversial tenure since he staved off rival Aussie bidders to pay $280million for the 143,500ha property in 2016.
Mr Lu has been progressively selling off chunks of land over the last couple of years, but he has put up for sale the final 1300 hectares of the property, which includes a historic homestead, eight dairies and a small wind farm.
Concerned that Woolnorth, which at one stage was Australia's most productive dairy, could go back into foreign hands, the call has gone out on social media to crowd-fund bringing the property back into local ownership by the Australia's Page Facebook.
The spectacular Woolnorth dairy farm is being sold by its Chinese owners and there are hopes it can be brought back into Australian hands
Woolnorth spans over a vast 143,500 hectares
Australia's Page creator, James Bennett, said there has been a strong response.
'So far, it is looking extremely good. There have been 6,000 expressions of interest in about 32 hours,' he told Daily Mail Australia.
Mr Bennett said the idea came from some of the page's 680,000 followers.
'A number of our followers contacted us and said we would like to see it remain in Australian hands, so we thought we'd see what kind of interest there is,' he said.
Woolnorth boasts some of Tasmania's most breathtaking coastline, a natural wonder that George Bass, while circumnavigating Tasmania, described in his diary as: 'The most stupendous works of nature he had witnessed'.
It includes 30 homes, a 13-stand shearing shed, two large cattle yards and numerous farm and livestock sheds.
A promotional video for the sale put out by specialist property real estate agents Nutrien Harcourts claims Woolnorth's air has been 'scientifically proven' to be the 'cleanest in the world'.
The attempt to buy Woolnorth is not the Australia Page's first attempt to crow fund bringing farmland back under Australian control.
'We did a campaign with the Kidman property when that was the largest land-holding in the the world at the time,' Mr Bennett said.
Xianfeng Lu has owned Woolnorth since 2016 and originally planned to fly the milk produced there directly to China
'There was a lot of concern in the general public and overseas about it being sold overseas at the time.
'We were able to generate 20,000 expressions of interest.'
Eventually the Kidman station was bought by WA mining billionaire Gina Rinehart in combination with a minor partner Chinese company.
Mr Bennett said he had asked a lawyer friend to look at how to structure an investment vehicle to buy the dairy farm if there was enough interest.
'We have crunch a few numbers and make sure it is viable but from what we have been doing it is looking promising,' Mr Bennett said.
Mr Bennett has run a number of Facebook pages that advocate for Australian ownership of economic assets.
'It's something I have been passionate about for many years,' he said.
'A lot of other countries have that structure where they won't allow their property to be sold overseas. I don't see why we should allow our property to be sold overseas.
The magnificent property boasts a historic homestead with 30 homes and eight dairies plus the world's 'scientifically proven cleanest air'
'Especially farms, we are supposed to be the food bank of the world.'
Mr Bennett said that foreign owners shipping produce overseas was a major concern expressed by those interacting with his Facebook pages.
'You hear people say they can't take the land with them, well they can't take the land with them, but they can certainly take the produce with them,' he said of foreign owners.
'That's got to affect us.'
How Woolnorth came under Chinese ownership
Because of the high price and significance of the property, Mr Lu's purchase of Woolnorth had to be approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board.
Scott Morrison, who was then Treasurer in the Morrison Coalition government, championed Mr Lu as a buyer and said he would bring jobs to the region.
The board approved the purchase under conditions that it create employment in the area and include investment in infrastructure and environmental projects.
Critics say none of those commitments have been sufficiently met and five of the farm's directors quit over this issue in 2018.
Initially, Mr Lu had a grand plan to fly millions of litres of fresh Tasmanian milk to Chinese consumers in Ningbo, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Beijing under his Van Dairy brand name.
Australia's Page creator James Bennett has started a register of interest to see if Woolnorth can be brought back into Australian hands
When that did not eventuate he secured a contract with New Zealand dairy cooperative Fonterra but that finished in February prompting the slaughter of at least 700 milking cows and hanging up the 'for sale' sign.
Some local sources say the number of cattle slaughtered was in the thousands.
In 2019 there were staff allegations that the cattle were being cruelly treated, accusations Mr Lu denied.
The Age also reported at the time that Van Dairy was being investigated by the Fair Work Ombudsman following claims of
