• Australia has secured an agreement that provides a strong
  framework to promote high levels of two-way investment
  between Australia and the US.
• There is no investor-state dispute settlement provision
  in the Agreement.
• The Agreement preserves Australia's foreign investment policy and maintains our ability to screen all investment of major significance.

Summary

The Agreement successfully preserves the main features of
Australia's foreign investment policy.

The Government has retained the right to examine significant
foreign investment proposals in all sectors to ensure they do
not raise issues contrary to the national interest.

• Foreign investments in urban land (including residential
  properties) and the media, and investments by foreign
  governments, will continue to be screened regardless of
  value.
• Foreign investments in the telecommunications, transport and defence related industries are subject to screening above a threshold (indexed annually).
• The threshold for screening in all other, non-sensitive sectors is set at a higher threshold (indexed annually).
• The indexed thresholds are available from the Foreign Investment Review Board website
• Existing foreign investment limits relating to the media,
  Telstra, CSL, Qantas and other Australian international
  airlines, federal leased airports and shipping have all been
  preserved.

The Agreement includes strong investor protection
provisions, which will benefit Australian investors in the US,
as well as affirming Australia's attractiveness to US
investors. The liberal provisions of the Agreement on
trade in goods and services should also strengthen Australia's
ability to attract foreign investment in many areas of the
economy.

Reflecting the fact that both countries have robust,
developed legal systems for resolving disputes between foreign
investors and government, the Agreement does not include any
provisions for investor-state dispute settlement.