Federal Election: Dutton, Albanese vow to force Chinese company out of Port of Darwin

Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese have both vowed to remove the Port of Darwin from the Chinese-owned company holding a 99-year lease on the asset.

The Port of Darwin lease will be taken off Chinese-owned Landbridge Group, both major party leaders have vowed.

Both Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese have vowed to return the Port of Darwin to Australian-approved hands if elected, in a chaotic Friday evening vow.

Mr Dutton had planned to make the announcement late on Friday night, but after getting wind of the plan, Mr Albanese called into Darwin radio to say he also would take back control of the port.

Landbridge Group, owned by Chinese billionaire Ye Cheng, obtained a 99-year lease on the port in 2015.

The lease was sold by the Northern Territory government, with laws changed afterward to ensure state and territory government asset sales would have to be approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board.

Mr Dutton will announce in the Northern Territory on Saturday that a six-month process to find a new, approved, leaseholder would take place, with the lease to be acquired by the Commonwealth if that failed.

“In the current geopolitical environment, it is vital that this piece of critical infrastructure, which is directly opposite to the Larrakeyah Defence Precinct, is operated by a trusted, Commonwealth approved entity,” a statement from Mr Dutton and shadow Defence Minister Andrew Hastie says.

Peter Dutton will make the announcement on Saturday. Picture Thomas Lisson / NewsWire

“We will appoint a specialist commercial adviser to work with the Northern Territory Government and officials from the Departments of Treasury, Finance, Defence and Infrastructure to provide advice and engage with potential new operators of the Port.”

The Coalition has vowed not to lease the port to “any entity that is directly or indirectly controlled by a foreign government, including any state-owned enterprise or sovereign wealth fund”.

If a private lease cannot be facilitated within six months, an elected Coalition government would acquire the lease interest in the port under the Commonwealth’s compulsory acquisition powers as a “last resort”.

Shortly before the Coalition announcement was made public, Mr Albanese rang ABC Radio Darwin to say he would also kick Landbridge out of the Port.

Mr Albanese called ABC Radio Darwin shortly before the Coalition’s announcement was made public. Picture: Jason Edwards / NewsWire

He claimed the Labor Party had been “working on this for some time”, and that an elected Labor government would buy the port if a private buyer could not be found.

“What we are doing is we will enter into negotiations,” he said.

”That is what we’ve been doing informally, through potential buyers up to this point already, and if it reaches a point where the Commonwealth needs to directly intervene, then we’d be prepared to do that.”

Mr Albanese said he wanted the “strategic asset” “in Australian hands”.

Landbridge non-executive director Terry O’Connor refuted rumours of a sale last month.

In a statement he said the company and Darwin Port had “not been involved in any discussions on the matter”.

Originally published as Federal Election: Dutton, Albanese vow to force Chinese company out of Port of Darwin