April 7, 2025
Monday 7 April 2025
Ben Packham
The Australian
Anthony Albanese’s claim to have been working on a plan to take the port of Darwin out of Chinese hands “for some time” has been questioned by the Northern Territory government, which says federal Labor explicitly ruled out the prospect as recently as a month ago.
The Prime Minister’s insistence he has always been opposed to Chinese firm Landbridge Group’s ownership of the strategically important port since 2015 has also been undermined by his past words, with Mr Albanese saying in 2023 that he had accepted a review by his own department that there was no need for a forced sale.
Amid allegations of policy on the run, Mr Albanese said on Friday that the NT’s Country Liberal Party government had been consulted on his plan to bring the port back under Australian ownership.
But NT Treasurer Bill Yan said the Territory had been blindsided by the announcement, despite a series of meetings with the federal government on the port’s future since November last year.
“The most recent formal discussions took place in early March where the federal government advised they were not considering any further action on the acquisition of the port,” Mr Yan told The Australian.
The revelation follows multiple instances when the Prime Minister’s statements on national security matters have been called into question, including his claim last week that a Chinese spy ship was being monitored by Defence when the Australian Border Force had been tasked with tracking the vessel.
Mr Yan said the March 6 meeting in Canberra included representatives from the Prime Minister’s department, Treasury, Finance, Home Affairs, and Defence, with the NT government seeking federal government support for a joint buyback of the port for an estimated $1.3bn.
“There has been no further correspondence with the Minister’s Office since the meeting,” Mr Yan said.
“The CLP government was informed of the Albanese government’s intention to buy back the Port through media reporting on Friday, but has yet to receive a detailed plan for this.”
National security experts have long called for the port to be returned to Australian ownership after the NT government leased it to Landbridge in 2015 – with the then Turnbull government’s blessing – for $507m.
But Labor has been accused of rushing out a half-baked plan on Friday to gazump Peter Dutton, who announced his own plan to force the sale of the port the following day. Mr Albanese said the “political decision” was “consistent with the position that we’ve had since 2015”. But in October 2023 he declared the port’s future had been “resolved”, after a review by his department found security risks over the lease could be managed.
“Landbridge can continue to operate the port … there won’t be an intervention for any forced sale,” he said at the time.
A fortnight later, Mr Albanese became the first Australian prime minister in seven years to visit China, where he declared the nations’ relationship had been stabilised after three years of hostility.
Asked by ABC Darwin on Friday whether the sale plan had been discussed with the Territory government, Mr Albanese said: “It’s been raised with the NT government, not just this one but the previous NT government as well, over a period of time, but the commonwealth has also had separate discussions as well.”
Arguing “we’ve been working on this for some time”, he said Landbridge was also “certainly aware” the government had been searching for potential buyers for the port.
But Landbridge said it was caught by surprise by the announcement, insisting its lease was not for sale.
Landbridge non-executive director Terry O’Connor told The Australian he took Mr Albanese at his word when he declared in 2023 that the company could continue to operate the port.
“We had no reason to doubt what he said as being the case. We had confidence going forward from there, and we still see that there’s no reason that the current lease arrangements that we have with the NT government would be changed,” Mr O’Connor told The Australian.
“After the election, we’d be keen to talk to the government to understand what their concerns might be.”
The Coalition briefed the Chinese ambassador on its Port of Darwin policy before it was announced, with Mr Dutton promising to compulsorily acquire the facility within six months of coming to office if a commercial buyer could not be found.
Mr Albanese said hoped an Australian superannuation fund would buy the asset but was prepared to forcibly acquire it if necessary. He did not propose a time frame for the sale or flag the policy with the Chinese ambassador before announcing it.
Opposition campaign spokesman James Paterson said the Prime Minister had changed his tune on the port’s future after assuring the Chinese that Landbridge was here to stay.
“Just 18 months ago when he was anxious to earn the affection of the Chinese government, Anthony Albanese said no change was necessary on the Port of Darwin,” Senator Paterson said.
“A dangerous world and a deteriorating strategic environment require strong leadership, not rushed announcements from a weak leader who is not across the details.”
But Foreign Minister Penny Wong defended the government’s policy, declaring: “The elected representatives of the country have made a clear decision that this is a piece of critical infrastructure that in the current circumstances we believe should be in Australian hands.”
She declined to nominate any specific advice by Australian government agencies calling for the port to be removed from Chinese ownership, but said some had called for Australia’s infrastructure to be protected to strengthen the nation’s strategic resilience and military deterrence.
“We have certainly been working on what a sensible mechanism to return it to Australian hands would be and that’s what the Prime Minister has flagged,” she said.