Tony Abbott says Australia benefited from foreign investment because it was 'unsettled' before the British

Gareth Hutchens

Prime Minister Tony Abbott says we have all benefited from Britain’s original foreign investment because Australia was “unsettled” before the British arrived.

Delivering the keynote address at The Australian-Melbourne Institute conference on Thursday night, Mr Abbott was asked about the importance of foreign investment in residential real estate and its contribution to economic growth.

Mr Abbott said it was a contentious issue, and also an “emotional” one, because “if I want to sell my place [then] foreign investment might make sense, but if my neighbour wants to sell his place [then] foreign investment might be the last thing we want.”

When explaining why foreign investment was so important for a country like Australia, Mr Abbott said the country would be unimaginable without it.

“As a general principle we support foreign investment. Always have and always will,” he said.

“Our country is unimaginable without foreign investment.”

“I guess our country owes its existence to a form of foreign investment by the British government in the then unsettled or, um, scarcely-settled, Great South Land,” he said.

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“I think all of them have got things to teach us, but as in most things I would regard John Howard as the supreme teacher,” Mr Abbott said.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbott-says-australia-benefited-from-foreign-investment-because-it-was-unsettled-before-the-british-20140703-zsvby.html#ixzz36RMVe200