Australian Greens member Adam Bandt, the National Party of Australia’s Tony Crook and independent Andrew Wilkie today joined independent Bob Katter in opposing the proposed tie-up between Asia’s fifth- and eighth-largest bourses. That means Singapore Exchange, part owned by the city-state’s government, needs the support of the minority Labor government, which hasn’t decided its stance on the deal, and at least four other legislators in the lower house of parliament to approve the deal.
“I would not support any move to sell the Australian Stock Exchange to Singapore or to interests in Singapore,” Wilkie told reporters in Canberra today. “The Australian Stock Exchange is just too fundamentally important to our economy and to our sovereignty.”