Against the grain: Seaton

Don Seaton has a 2.2 per cent stake in GrainCorp and is reportedly set to make about $30 million on his shares if the $3 billion sale goes ahead.

But Mr Seaton, who sold the grain trading and oilseed company Gardner Smith to GrainCorp as part of a $472m deal last year, doesn't want ADM's bid to succeed.

He said the controversial sale was being portrayed as a test of the new Abbott government's foreign investment credentials and the Prime Minister's election eve mantra that "Australia is open for business".

“But it is about much more than that,” Mr Seaton said.

“I should know.. I now stand to profit enormously if ADM's takeover offer is approved by the Treasurer.

“Nevertheless, I strongly believe that this transaction cannot be allowed to proceed because it will have a destructive effect on the Australian grain trading industry and every other industry associated with it.”

Mr Seaton said the ADM purchase “fundamentally fails” the national interest test; the measure by which Treasurer Joe Hockey must judge the proposed bid, in conjunction with the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) by December 17.

His campaign also gained the backing of eccentric billionaire businessman and Queensland MP Clive Palmer who said “it’s certainly in the national interest that the Treasurer doesn’t approve the takeover”.

Mr Palmer said the Treasurer has raised the possibility of putting conditions on any FIRB approval “but that’s just rubbish”.

“I’ve been (involved) in many transactions that have gone to the FIRB board based on various undertakings that have all been broken by foreign corporations,” he said.

“The FIRB has no teeth, there is no penalty (and) there is no watchdog seeing what happens afterwards.

“FIRB approval has been abused in the past and it will be again in the future.”

Mr Palmer said he believed Mr Seaton’s views were representative of other GrainCorp shareholders.

“He’s the largest shareholder and it’s interesting to note that if he took the current offer he’d probably be $30 million or so better off than he otherwise would be, so it’s a matter of principle versus political expediency,” he said.

“If you give up your national interest for money, give up your principles for the country that the ANZACS and other people have fought and died for, you really give up the country itself and the moral fabric that we’ve got in Australia,” he said.

“So as an Australian citizen I’m saying we shouldn’t do that regardless of money - money is not that important.”

Mr Seaton has also employed lawyers, Shahriar Mofakhami and Amit Jois of HWL Ebsworth, to make a formal submission to the Treasurer outlining his concerns with the sale.

“Mr Seaton has spent a life time in this industry and believes we need a national strategy for agriculture because these ad hoc investments are eroding our agricultural base," Mr Mofakhami said.

“The Australian grains market has become dangerously concentrated through foreign acquisitions that have been allowed to happen without a proper consideration of their long-term impact on Australian agricultural markets.

“ADM has been in the Australian market since 2008 through Toepfer, but has not delivered better returns to growers.

“ADM says it can connect growers to grain customers in other export markets around the world and provide benefits to growers," Mr Mofakhami said.

“But the question is, why can’t it achieve that already through Toepfer?”

The submission will also inform the re-opened senate inquiry into the ADM transaction, due to hold its next public hearing on December 2 in Canberra.

Mr Seaton said the submission would highlight “the mistakes made by the ACCC and the disastrous consequences for the Australian agricultural industry that will follow if this transaction is approved”.

“Australia needs a sound national strategy to govern foreign investment in agriculture to ensure that the industry remains healthy and sustainable in the long-term,” he said.

Amid speculation he may intervene on the deal, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Monday that the final decision on GrainCorp was “entirely a matter for the Treasurer”.

“I'm confident that the Treasurer is giving this the attention that it deserves,” he said.

“We are happy - very happy - to have foreign investment in Australia.

“It does have to accord with our overall national interests and there is no better way of ensuring that that's the case than the FIRB process with the final decision to be made by the Treasurer.”

Victorian Nationals MP Darren Chester said the National Party also didn’t believe the GrainCorp sale should go ahead.

“It’s not just the National Party view, it’s actually a view which is shared amongst many regional MPs and many regional Liberals have the same view we have,” he said.

“And quite rightly we are representing our constituents.

“We’ve had meetings with the Treasurer, Joe Hockey and we raised those in the appropriate channels.

“This is not a split between Liberals and Nationals; this is about a regional policy area where there is a difference of opinion - perhaps between the city and country - that might explain it.

“But there are some genuine policy issues here that people are concerned about.”