The Morrison government recently announced that it was lowering the threshold for screening foreign acquisitions in Australia to $0. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg promised that all foreign investments would be scrutinised to protect the national interest.
Politicians such as Pauline Hanson and George Christensen have expressed little confidence in the Foreign Investment Review Board to properly vet acquisitions and protect Australian interests.
They may have good reasons for misgivings…
Chinese owned private hospital operator Healthe Care has bought three NSW hospitals for $53 million while it continues to negotiate a takeover of another health care operator.
This is a company acquiring a sizeable footprint in Australia’s hospital sector.
The purchase of Shellharbour Private Hospital, South Coast Private mental health hospital and Wollongong Day Surgery, all in the Illawarra region south of Sydney, takes Healthe Care’s local portfolio to 21 hospitals.
Healthe Care, Australia’s third largest corporate private hospital operator, is currently negotiating a takeover of ASX-listed private hospital operator Pulse Health.
The company, acquired by China’s Luye Medical group a year ago for $938 million, has been given the green light by the Australian competition watchdog to acquire Pulse.
Pulse operates 12 hospitals, including Westmead Rehabilitation and Bega Valley Private in NSW, and Gold Coast Surgical and Mackay Rehabilitation hospitals in Queensland.
Healthe chief executive Steve Atkins said the company expects to settle further acquisitions this year.
In February, the company bought two other hospitals: a 30-bed mental health hospital at Perth and a rehabilitation and day clinic south of Perth.
Luye Medical Group is run by “acquisitive Chinese entrepreneur Liu Dianbo”. So, expect many more acquisitions to follow.
Still, the objection will no doubt run, the company (for the present) “only” owns 5% of Australia’s private hospitals. What’s to worry?
The worry goes far, far deeper than just its geographic footprint in the health sector. Because there’s no such thing as a “private” company in China – all Chinese companies are ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.
Clive Hamilton, whose Silent Invasion is a clarion call against stealthy Chinese infiltration at all levels of Australian society, warns that “China has a very unhealthy interest in our medical data”.
Chinese companies are required by law to obey directives from Beijing’s intelligence agencies. So why would our regulators permit a giant Australian healthcare provider that is privy to highly sensitive records on hundreds of thousands of Australians to be acquired by a Chinese company?
The specific risk of giving Chinese companies direct access to Australian medical records is that China’s intelligence services could access those records for information on current or future political, military and public service leaders in order to blackmail them.
As Australia rolls out its My Health Record online database, the idea of giving Chinese-owned companies access to such sensitive data is insane.
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