Article by Mark Phelps, courtesy of Queensland Country Life
29.01.2026
Queensland’s onerous foreign investment tax has been blamed by S.Kidman & Co, who said the tax has forced the company to sell three of its blue chip freehold Maranoa region properties.
Kidman will sell the 14,600 hectares (36,077 acre) Rockybank and adjoining holding Holyrood as well as the 653ha (1614 acre) Maffra South, saying a tax burden forecast to hit $1 million a year had made the operations commercially unsustainable.
No announcement has been made on the Mitchell property Forestvale.
S.Kidman & Co is a joint venture, 67 percent owned by Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting and 33pc owned by Chinese company Shanghai CRED.
Foreign investors in Queensland face a 3 per cent annual land tax surcharge on taxable land valued at $350,000 or more, in addition to standard land taxes applicable to foreign companies and trusts.
“S.Kidman & Co has made the difficult and unavoidable decision to divest its Rockybank property due to the ongoing impact of Queensland’s land tax regime,” a spokesman said.
“Rockybank is freehold agricultural land and, due to S. Kidman & Co having a minority foreign investor, Rockybank is subject to Queensland land tax rates.
“These have increased year-on-year following successive Queensland Government revaluations and are projected to approach $1 million per annum in the coming years, rendering the property commercially unsustainable to operate, with any minority foreign investor.
Staff shortages and foreign owner taxes crueling ag investment mood in Qld
“We have also decided to divest the Holyrood and Maffra South properties, because, without Rockybank as part of the broader Roma aggregation, the loss of economies of scale means these properties are no longer commercially viable to operate in isolation,” the spokesman said.
“These land tax settings do not apply in the same way to agricultural land used for primary production in other Australian states and territories.”
It is understood the properties are now in the process of being valued, with Elders appointed to handle the sales campaign.
The spokesman said Hancock and S. Kidman & Co were also working closely with employees during the sales process.
