The $506 million sale of the Port of Darwin to a privately owned Chinese industrial conglomerate called Landbridge Group stands very public testimony to the political courage of the Northern Territory's bold Chief Minister, Adam Giles.

Australian ports have generally been acquired by fairly orthodox infrastructure investors. You know the beasts we are talking about. Funds managers of renown like Brookfield, Macquarie and Hastings tend to move around the globe hunting defensive assets like ports that boast transparent, predictable income streams, that eat up relatively low levels of sustaining or growth capital, and that generate consistently strong fee flow for their managers.