Treasurer Scott Morrison has approved the sale of the Kidman cattle empire to mining magnate Gina Rinehart and a Chinese company.

Key points: Rinehart and Chinese company to buy 67pc of Kidman group

Rinehart and Chinese company to buy 67pc of Kidman group Local farming family to acquire defence-sensitive Anna Creek Station

Local farming family to acquire defence-sensitive Anna Creek Station 20-month sale attracted interest from 600 parties, included attempt to crowd-fund Australian bid

"I have decided that the acquisition of Kidman as proposed would not be contrary to the national interest and will be permitted to proceed," he said in a statement.

It is the third attempt by Chinese interests to buy into Australia's largest private landholder.

Mrs Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting will own 67 per cent of S Kidman and Co with partner Shanghai CRED taking a one-third minority stake through their joint-venture company Australian Outback Beef (AOB).

The sale will not include the defence-sensitive Anna Creek Station or The Peake which will be sold to a local South Australian grazier family.

The 117-year-old family company, founded by Sir Sidney Kidman, has pastoral leases covering 101,000 square kilometres across Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland and South Australia.

It runs a herd of up to 185,000 cattle, producing grass-fed beef for export to Japan, the US and South-East Asia.

In a video released by Hancock Prospecting following the approval, Mrs Rinehart said she had long wanted to diversify.

"Right now all our eggs are in the iron ore basket," she said.

"Now to become the third largest producer of cattle in Australia I think it's just great.

"I see an ongoing need for meat particularly in the Asina region and most of our cattle from Australia, three quarters, we export.

"And of course the value of the land over decades is going to keep increasing and increasing."

Hancock Prospecting CEO Gary Korte said the herd size will be increased from the current 150,000 head to its full carrying capacity of 185,000.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 3 minutes 33 seconds 3 m 33 s Lead partner in Kidman joint venture expresses delight with deal announcement ( Dominique Schwartz ) Download 6.5 MB

"Then we will be investing additional capital of $19 million to further … grow the business and take the herd size to well over 200,000 and potentially far beyond that if we are able to identify sensible acquisitions to add to the business," he said.

"We will create over the next three to five years an additional 100 jobs in regional Australia.

Mr Korte said having a Chinese partner to gain access to additional export markets is "absolutely critical if there's to be any credible plan to expand and grow the business".

Morrison's decision shows 'Australia open for investment': NFF

S Kidman and Co's cattle stations are spread out over 101,000 square kilometres of central Australia. ( Supplied )

The announcement ends an often fraught, 20-month sale process which attracted interest from 600 parties and included an attempt to crowd-fund an Australian bid.

Mr Morrison blocked an initial all-Chinese offer by Shanghai Pengxin in November 2015 on the grounds that foreign ownership was not in the national interest given the size and defence sensitivity of the Kidman landholding.

National Farmers' Federation president Fiona Simson said Mr Morrison's announcement sends a message that "Australia is open for investment and agriculture is open for investment".

"But I certainly think the process could benefit from a more transparent national interest test," she said, "to make sure it's clear what guidelines any such investment should meet.

"For this process to take 20 months, I think is too long. It does create uncertainty. It creates uncertainty about the process we have in Australia."

The Kidman empire stretches across 2.6 per cent of Australia's agricultural land and the Anna Creek station in South Australia sits partly within the prohibitive zone surrounding the Woomera weapons testing range.

In April this year, a restructured Chinese bid which excluded Anna Creek Station and brought in a 20 per cent local partner, Australian Rural Capital, was also rejected by the Treasurer.

Mrs Rinehart's majority Australian-owned AOB entered the fray in October with a $365-million offer, only to be outbid by a completely home-grown consortium of outback cattle families.

Kidman runs a herd of up to 185,000 cattle, producing grass-fed beef for export to Japan, the US and South-East Asia. ( ABC Rural: Lydia Burton )

Their $386 million bid was swiftly gazumped by AOB and the graziers withdrew from the race after Mrs Rinehart revealed her trump card — a commitment that Hancock Prospecting would buy the entire Kidman business itself if its Chinese partner failed the foreign investment test.

Mrs Rinehart has made her fortune in iron-ore mining but has recently been busy building her cattle interests.

In a recent interview she said her hope was to build up an agricultural holding that is not restricted to one geographic area.

Kidman and Co managing director Greg Campbell welcomed the decision.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 7 minutes 25 seconds 7 m Anna Vidot spoke to Kidman managing director Greg Campbell Download 6.8 MB

Mr Campbell told the ABC that it has been a "long road" to the sale, which he was advised of only minutes before the media.

"There's no doubt it was always going to draw a range of interested parties," he said.

"We always though there would be strong offshore interest in the business.

"We weren't quite aware of the degree of public angst against that offshore interest."

Crossbench MP Bob Katter said he felt "absolute rage and disgust" over the sale.

Mr Katter told the ABC that the Turnbull Government was "selling their country out and selling their country off".

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