Solomon MP Luke Gosling wins mandate for Darwin Port lease buyout

With the federal election done and dusted, Luke Gosling’s dream of returning Darwin Port into Australian hands will be tested. Read what will happen.

Four-term Solomon MP Luke Gosling’s political legacy will be defined over the next three years as the Labor Government moves to honour its commitment to buy back the Darwin Port lease deal.

Mr Gosling, a former soldier with the Australian Defence Force, is believed to be the primary critic on federal Labor’s benches against the 99-year port lease deal with Chinese-owned company Landbridge.

In the lead-up to the federal election Darwin Port chief executive Peter Dummett predicted the facility would be used as a political football during campaigning.

Despite three security reviews in a decade  which found no adverse security concerns with the port lease deal, Mr Gosling persuaded Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to move against Landbridge and force the lease back into Australian control.

Luke Gosling at Labor HQ on election night. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

A spokesman for Mr Gosling said on Sunday that the mandate to end the lease “has been set”. “Work is just now beginning,” he said.

Mr Albanese announced the significant policy in a hastily-arranged telephone call to ABC radio late on an April Friday, when Labor learned through a media leak the Opposition was about to make a similar announcement.

Unlike Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s announcement, which committed to leasing back the port within six months, federal Labor committed only to returning the port into Australian hands.

Despite rushing the announcement to try and gazump his opponent, Mr Albanese claimed Labor had been “working on this for some time”.

“What we are doing is we will enter into negotiations,” Mr Albanese said last month.” 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.”

Acknowledging there were no security concerns with the port being leased to a Chinese company, federal Labor described the buyback as a “political” decision.

Critics of the leaseback decision say the December 2023 review release that cleared Landbridge of any security concerns was timed to convince China to ease tariffs on Australian produce, including red lobsters.

Landbridge non-executive director Terry O’Connor. Picture Katrina Bridgeford.

“What’s changed since December 2023 other than the politics?” a source said. “The question now is how far will the federal government go if Chinese authorities or Landbridge don’t co-operate with the sale.”

The PM’s announcement that it would force the leaseback has not gone unnoticed in Asia, with concerns at Commonwealth overreach in the private sector and sovereign risk for foreign investors.

Online financial publication MoneyControl recently addressed implications of the sale.

“In conclusion, the Port of Darwin saga is a complex web of economic, political, and geopolitical factors,” MoneyControl editorialised. “It’s a high-stakes game of poker, with Australia, China, and Landbridge all holding their cards close to their chest.

“The outcome of this game could have far-reaching implications, not just for Australia and China, but for the broader geopolitical landscape. It’s a debate that Australia needs to have, and it’s a debate that needs to be had in the open, with all the cards on the table.”

A stumbling block to the leaseback could be Landbridge’s insistence that the asset isn’t for sale, with the company understood to be seeking $1.3 billion to give up the lease.

Landbridge non-executive director Terry O’Connor said the next move is with Government.

“Congratulations to Labor on the victory and we look forward to engaging with the Government about the future of the port,” he said.