Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) In this section, corporation means:
(a) a prescribed corporation that carries on an Australian business, whether alone or together with any other person or persons; or
(b) a holding corporation (other than a foreign corporation that is not a prescribed corporation) of such a prescribed corporation.
(2) Where the Treasurer is satisfied that:
(a) a person proposes, or persons propose, to acquire shares in a corporation or a corporation proposes to issue shares;
(b) the proposed acquisition or acquisitions or the proposed issue would have the result that:
(i) in the case of a corporation not controlled by foreign persons--the corporation would be controlled by foreign persons; or
(ii) in the case of a corporation controlled by foreign persons--the corporation would continue to be controlled by foreign persons, but those persons would include a person who is not, or would not include a person who is, one of the foreign persons first referred to in this subparagraph; and
(c) that result would be contrary to the national interest;
the Treasurer may make an order prohibiting the proposed acquisition or all or any of the proposed acquisitions, or the proposed issue, as the case may be.
(3) Where the Treasurer makes an order under subsection (2) prohibiting a proposed acquisition of shares in a corporation, he or she may also make an order in relation to a specified foreign person, or in relation to a specified foreign person and specified associates, or the persons included in a specified class of associates, of that person, directing that that person shall not, or none of those persons shall, whether alone or together with any other or others of them:
(a) be in a position to control more of the total voting power in the corporation than:
(i) such proportion of the total voting power in the corporation as is equal to the proportion of the total voting power in the corporation at the time of the coming into operation of the first‑mentioned order that that foreign person, together with any associate or associates of that person, was in a position to control at that time; or
(ii) such greater proportion (if any) of the total voting power in the corporation as is specified in the order; or
(b) hold interests in a number of issued shares in the corporation exceeding:
(i) the number that bears to the total number of issued shares in the corporation the same proportion as the number of issued shares in the corporation in which that foreign person, together with any associate or associates of that person, held interests at the time of the coming into operation of the first‑mentioned order bears to the total number of issued shares in the corporation at that time; or
(ii) such greater number (if any) as is specified in the order.
(4) Where a person has acquired shares in a corporation, and the Treasurer is satisfied that:
(a) the acquisition has had the result that:
(i) in the case of a corporation that, before the acquisition, was not controlled by foreign persons--the corporation is controlled by foreign persons; or
(ii) in the case of a corporation that, before the acquisition, was controlled by foreign persons--the corporation continues to be controlled by foreign persons, but those persons include a person who is not, or do not include a person who is, one of the foreign persons first referred to in this subparagraph; and
(b) that result is contrary to the national interest;
the Treasurer may make an order directing the person who acquired the shares to dispose of those shares within a specified time to any person or persons approved in writing by the Treasurer.
(5) Before the expiration of the time specified in an order made under subsection (4) or of that time as extended under this subsection, the Treasurer may, by writing signed by him or her, extend or further extend that time or that time as so extended, and in that event the order has effect as if the time as so extended or further extended had been specified in the order.
(6) The Treasurer shall not refuse to approve a person for the purposes of subsection (4) unless he or she is satisfied that the person is a foreign person and that it would be contrary to the national interest for that person to acquire the shares concerned.
(7) For the purposes of this section:
(a) a corporation shall be taken to be controlled by foreign persons if, and only if, a foreign person holds a controlling interest in the corporation or 2 or more foreign persons hold an aggregate controlling interest in the corporation;
(b) where, by virtue of paragraph (a), a corporation is taken to be controlled by foreign persons by reason that a foreign person, together with an associate or associates, is in a position to control not less than 15 per centum of the voting power in the corporation or holds interests in not less than 15 per centum of the issued shares in the corporation, references to the foreign persons who control the corporation include references to that associate or those associates, whether or not that associate is, or those associates are, in fact foreign persons; and
(c) where, by virtue of paragraph (a), a corporation is taken to be controlled by foreign persons by reason that 2 or more foreign persons, together with an associate or associates of any of them, are in a position to control not less than 40 per centum of the voting power in the corporation or hold interests in not less than 40 per centum of the issued shares in the corporation, references to the foreign persons who control the corporation are references to any foreign persons, and any associates of foreign persons (whether or not those associates are in fact foreign persons), each of whom is in a position to control any of the voting power in the corporation or holds interests in any of the issued shares in the corporation.
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