US government bank leads foreign investment in Australia

Vanguard September 2012 p. 5
Bill F.

All the fuss in the monopoly media, about Chinese foreign investment by ‘state-owned entities’, has hidden the true scale of US investments in Australia.

Following a visit to an LNG project in Queensland, the chairman of the US government Export-Import Bank is reported in The Australian as saying, “US investment is frankly far greater than any Chinese investment in Australia – it’s the No1 source of FDI (foreign direct investment) into Australia.”

He indicated that the bank will advance more than $5 billion in low interest loans to projects in Australia during this year alone. Companies to benefit include US monopolies such as Chevron, Bechtel, General Electrics, Caterpillar, Conoco Phillips and Lockheed Martin. The bank is currently in discussions over financing Gina Rinehart’s $9 billion Roy Hill iron ore project in Western Australia.

The Dean of the University Sydney’s business school, Geoffrey Garrett, noted that US investment in Australia topped $550 billion between 2005 and 2011, compared with $20 billion for China. If the export of capital (foreign investment) is one characteristic of imperialism, as Lenin stated in his work, Imperialism, the highest stage of Capitalism, then the US is clearly dominant.

The operation of the Export-Import Bank also reveals the role of the capitalist state in underpinning the activities of corporate monopolies. Again, Lenin had a bit to say about this in another famous work, The State and Revolution.

US imperialism is strengthening its hold over Australia. It exerts great political influence over both the Coalition and Labor. It is expanding its military presence and is using the Export-Import Bank and devices such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) to grab ownership or control of Australia’s key resources.

The situation reflects the increasing rivalry between the US and China in many parts of the world. As a key resource country, Australia is an important target for investment and political influence. The monopoly media presents the increasing rivalry between the big powers in the Pacific region as Australia having to choose between the US and China (Rinehart or Palmer?) However, the real choice for the Australian people is whether we continue to have domination by foreign imperialism or an independent country in control of its own resources and future.