Govt defends foreign investment rules October 10, 2013 - 10:20AM The federal government insists Australia's foreign investment rules do not discriminate against China, despite suggestions to the contrary from a Liberal premier. West Australian Premier Colin Barnett says all investments by Chinese government and state-owned enterprises are subject to stricter assessments by the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB). The premier says the same approach doesn't exist when dealing with other countries and the FIRB's criteria should be changed because big industries in China are owned by the state. But Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said neither the FIRB nor the government discriminated against certain countries. "It is not a fair observation because, of course, the rules are not designed for or against any particular country," he told Sky News on Thursday. There can be no suggestion that there is any discrimination whatsoever between countries. Senator Cormann also said it was appropriate that a different level of scrutiny was applied to proposals by state-owned enterprises to ensure they weren't "contrary to our national interest." Under the existing rules, the United States has a $1 billion threshold on business investment before triggering FIRB intervention. However, China's threshold is $248 million, and its leaders there are pushing for the limit to be lifted as part of negotiations with Australia over a free trade agreement. Mr Cormann said it was "quite appropriate" that state-owned enterprises with a business interest in Australia would be treated differently to a private company operating in a free market. "That is not a situation that is unique to China, that is a situation that applies right across the board for well established reasons," he said.