October 21, 2023
The Albanese government will allow Chinese company Landbridge to continue its controversial lease over the Port of Darwin, in a decision announced just weeks ahead of the Prime Minister's expected trip to Beijing.
It came despite Anthony Albanese's criticism of the lease before the election as a "grave error of judgment", and ongoing concerns the arrangement is impeding Darwin's development with the US as a major strategic hub.
Mr Albanese's department said it was "not necessary to vary or cancel the lease" because there were sufficient safeguards in place to manage any security risks, and monitoring of the arrangement would continue.
"The government has accepted that advice," the department said in a statement issued on Friday afternoon. "Australians can have confidence that their safety will not be compromised, while ensuring that Australia remains a competitive destination for foreign investment." Mr Albanese's trip to China expected in early November
Port lease call clears PM's road to China Continued from Page 1 be the culmination of intensive diplomacy by his government aimed at improving the relationship with Beijing.
Strategic Analysis Australia director Peter Jennings said the government's move to confirm Landbridge's 99-year lease over the port "can only be because the government is subordinating its strategic interests to securing Albo's visit to China".
China delivered on a major Australian demand just days ago, releasing detained Australian citizen Cheng Lei after three years of detention.
It has also wound back trade bans on many Australian products, although Australian wine - a key export - remains subject to prohibitive tariffs.
Lowy Institute China expert Richard McGregor said both sides were "engaged in an elaborate diplomatic table setting before the Albanese visit".
The Turnbull government approved the Northern Territory government's lease of the port to Landbridge in 2015 for $506m.
The Morrison government reviewed the lease amid concerns among partners including the US and Japan, but opted not to cancel the arrangement.
Despite the Coalition's record on the port, opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie said the decision to retain the lease "without standing up and explaining the decision" was an "appalling display of weak leadership by the Prime Minister".
Mr Hastie accused Mr Albanese of "sweeping his decision under the rug and hiding behind a departmental media release sent out on a Friday afternoon". "The opposition is calling on the Prime Minister to stand up and explain why he is comfortable with his decision given his previous criticism of the lease," he said.
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said Australians "deserve answers as to why the PM's previous concern about this issue has now evaporated".
In opposition, Mr Albanese had railed against the decision to lease such "an incredibly important strategic asset for our nation" to a Chinese company with links to the People's Liberation Army.
"I have a very firm view, and had it at the time, that there's a you've got very limited infrastructure in the north, and if you've got a company that is occupying the central harbour infrastructure for Darwin, that is going to prevent that from being expanded to support what's going to be a larger military presence, both Australian and US, into the future."
The Prime Minister's department said it considered the findings of previous assessments "as well as considering whether risk management and mitigation arrangements are sufficient to protect Australia's national security interests". Its review took advice from ASIO and the Office of National Assessment, and the national interest in terms of our critical infrastructure, including the Port of Darwin. That isn't a position which I've changed," he said in 2020.
Landbridge has been linked to China's Communist Party, with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute warning the company is "a commercial front intimately tied to state-owned operations, the party and the PLA".
The Australian reported in 2019 that the company had vowed to "actively respond to the call of the state", and work toward "the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation".
The US was reportedly "stunned" by the original lease decision, while former Japanese ambassador to Australia Yamagami Shingo said his country would never allow one of its key ports to be controlled by China.
Mr Jennings, a former senior defence official, pointed to the government's Defence Strategic Review released in April, which said the country must prepare for operations in the country's northern land and maritime areas.
"Obviously, the Port of Darwin really is the centrepiece to that, both for Australia's defence and for the US, because of the US marines' presence," he said.
"The big risk here is that Defence, Foreign Affairs, Attorney-General's and Home Affairs departments.
