Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

FOREIGN ACQUISITIONS AND TAKEOVERS ACT 1975 - SECT 12A

             (1)  In this Act, interest in Australian urban land means:

                     (a)  a legal or equitable interest in Australian urban land, other than an interest under a lease or licence or in a unit in a unit trust estate;

                     (b)  an interest in a share in a company that owns Australian urban land, being a share that entitles the holder to a right to occupy a dwelling of a kind known as a flat or home unit situated on the land;

                     (c)  an interest as lessee or licensee in a lease or licence giving rights to occupy Australian urban land where the term of the lease or licence (including any extension) is reasonably likely, at the time the interest is acquired, to exceed 5 years;

                     (d)  an interest in an arrangement involving the sharing of profits or income from the use of, or dealings in, Australian urban land;

                     (e)  an interest in a share in an Australian urban land corporation;

                      (f)  an interest in a unit in an Australian urban land trust estate; or

                     (g)  if the trustee of an Australian urban land trust estate is a corporation--an interest in a share in that corporation.

             (2)  For the purposes of this Act, an interest is an interest in Australian urban land even if it is the only interest that exists in the land or other thing concerned.

             (3)  For the purposes of this Act, a person acquires an interest in Australian urban land even if:

                     (a)  the person acquires the interest jointly with another person or persons;

                     (b)  the person has previously acquired an interest in Australian urban land; or

                     (c)  the interest is an increase in the amount of an existing interest of the person in Australian urban land.

             (4)  For the purposes of this Act, where a person:

                     (a)  enters into an agreement; or

                     (b)  acquires an option;

to acquire an interest in Australian urban land, the person shall be taken to have acquired that interest in Australian urban land.

             (5)  For the purposes of this Act, a person shall be taken not to acquire an interest in Australian urban land if the person acquires the interest:

                     (a)  solely to hold as security for the purposes of a moneylending agreement; or

                     (b) by way of enforcement of a security held solely for the purposes of a moneylending agreement.

             (6)  For the purposes of this Act, a person shall be taken not to acquire an interest in Australian urban land if the person acquires the interest by will or by devolution by operation of law.

             (7)  A reference in this Act to the acquisition of an interest in Australian urban land does not include a reference to the acquisition of an interest in Australian urban land from:

                     (a)  the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory;

                     (b)  a corporation constituted for a public purpose by a law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory; or

                     (c)  a local governing body.

             (8)  Where the regulations provide that this Act, or a specified provision or provisions of this Act, does not or do not apply in relation to an acquisition, of a kind specified in the regulations, of an interest in Australian urban land, this Act, or the provision or provisions, does not or do not so apply.