Former prime minister Bob Hawke lobbied Colin Barnett to allow a Chinese company to buy a large package of land in the Ord River.
The push for ownership comes as Federal Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce signalled his concerns over any sale, saying the company should have been up-front about its intentions when it signed an original deal to lease the property.
Kimberley Agricultural Investment, owned by Chinese company Shanghai Zhongfu, has told the State Government "on an informal basis" that it wants freehold ownership of the 6000ha Knox Plain area, a major tranche of stage 2 of the Ord River scheme, the ambitious plan to turn the north of Australia into a regional food bowl.
Mr Hawke has long acted as a lobbyist for KAI, as well as other Chinese companies.
Shanghai Zhongfu says it is looking at a long-term plan to list KAI on the Hong Kong or Australian stock exchanges in a bid to raise funds to grow sugar for ethanol production.
Yeah just sell everything off, hey,Mr Hawke, now you've gutted manufacturing might as well go for broke.
Raising sugar for ethanol production is not exactly food production is it? More like money production for the shareholders.