Despite federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg approving the takeover bid with a variety of conditions, imposed to provide certainty for Australian jobs and industry, the history of foreign ownership bids in Tasmania have been done under a level of scrutiny in the past.

The ghosts of the takeover of the oldest dairy company in Australia, VDL, which has its farms at Smithton in the far North-West, still causes angst for many Tasmanians. Particularly in light of the news that all Tasmanian senior managers of VDL Company quit in spectacular fashion last year.

Chinese-owned Moon Lake Investments' purchase of VDL in 2015 was approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board. When he purchased VDL, Moon Lake owner Xianfeng Lu undertook to invest an additional $100 million into the business, as well as create roughly 100 new jobs.

However, concerns have been raised over just how much of that investment has been made in the state.

Conditions imposed by the Treasurer on the Bellamy's bid, include ensuring the headquarters of the company stays in Australia for at least 10 years and ensuring the majority of its board members are Australian citizens, among others.

If the takeover bid is approved, it will leave two significant Australian dairy assets, with their headquarters or farms in Tasmania, effectively in foreign hands. While that in itself is not problematic, it remains to be seen how that takeover will ripple out, particularly in relation to Bellamy's who is a premium supplier of baby formula in Australia.

There is no way to know if foreign investment and ownership of Bellamy's will be a bad thing; it may well be that the future is bright for the company - and who wouldn't want that?

A company of this size is a significant employer and creates significant revenue for the Australian economy - from Tasmania and as such our community has some skin in the game of this sale.