摘要：The Australian government was able to deliver unilateral trade liberalisation because there was an
ongoing conversation on the benefits of free trade. Australia¡¯s foreign investment framework hasn¡¯t
been unilaterally liberalised; and in large part that is because there has not been an equivalent
conversation about the benefits of liberalising Australia¡¯s foreign investment regulatory framework.
The purpose of the Australian Open Investment Future symposium was to begin that conversation.
Support by papers delivered at the symposium, there is a clear basis for reform. IPA research fellow
Julie Novak demonstrated in her paper that we currently live in a capital constrained world and that
the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) was acting as a barrier to investment. ITS Global
Economic Consultant, Jeff Rae, estimated that the cost of FIRB was more than $5.5 billion to the
Australian economy.
