Incoming trade minister Andrew Robb is playing down the potential for divisions between the Liberal and National parties over China's push for looser investment rules as part of free trade negotiations.
As part of the long-running talks, China has asked it get the same treatment as the United States, which has a $1 billion threshold on business investment before triggering Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) intervention.
The Nationals John Williams has told Fairfax Media a $1 billion China threshold would be "outrageous", particularly when the coalition has a policy of reducing the FIRB ceiling from $248 million to $15 million for agricultural land buyouts.
But asked if he thought negotiations over the threshold would lead to tensions within the coalition, Mr Robb said: "No, I don't".
"There's always people with strong views," the Liberal frontbencher told ABC radio on Wednesday.
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"We've got an established position. We'll work with that."
Mr Robb has listed a free trade agreement with China as a priority and said while the $1 billion threshold is "in the mix", it was a matter for negotiation.
He said other countries had been prepared to strike free trade deals that were not "100 per cent satisfactory".
"It is a negotiation; all these countries will stake out a position and look for areas that they can leverage," Mr Robb said.
"I don't see this as a deal breaker in any sense and it is important for us to make a statement about the significance of land ownership, but at the same time we will seek to make Australia very much open for business."
