It was brought in as a political stunt by Toxic Tony because they knew full well it would be rejected and so Toxic Tony could attack the opposition for doing so. Now they are stuck having to spend money in order to placate a Chinese government ticked into playing an Australian political game, "see we weren't pretending, we really meant it". Like yeah sure, the Government of China can bring in cents per hour workers to run the Australian farms bought by the government of China, whilst those self serving douche bags who sold the farms for maximum profit disappear back to dear old blighty with their billions for selling out Australians (never going to happen).
China not impressed, sucked into playing a political scam.