Australia still open for business: Joyce

The decision to block the sale of one of Australia's largest farms to a foreign consortium doesn't mean Australia is closed for business, the deputy prime minister has argued.

Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce defended the decision in response to warnings from the National Farmers Federation and Labor that it may send a signal that Australia is no longer open to foreign investment, especially from Chinese investors.

"If the idea is that you say no once then the whole world is going to collapse, then I suppose it is going to collapse ... there are vastly stronger restrictions in basically every nation on earth," he told ABC radio.