Pollies in a bind over Port of Darwin lease as new foreign investment rules announced
A WAR of words has erupted over the lease of the Port of Darwin after the Commonwealth announced tough new rules for foreign investors.
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A WAR of words has erupted over the lease of the Port of Darwin after the Commonwealth announced tough new rules for foreign investors.
Under the new laws the Treasurer will have expanded powers to force the sale of assets or impose conditions after a deal is reached if national security is at risk. Currently, private foreign investments under $275 million – or $1.2 billion for countries that have free trade agreements with Australia – are not screened.
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In announcing the new proposed rules, which would have potentially blocked the 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin to Chinese-owned Landbridge, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the NT Government had not sought approval or authority from the Commonwealth when it was done in 2016.
“At that time, sales of assets by Territory governments, state governments, did not require and did not call in the authority of the Foreign Investment Review Board or the Treasurer,” he said.
“It was not sold with the authority of the Federal Government.”
But former NT treasurer Dave Tollner told Sky News this wasn’t true and the Federal Government and the then Treasurer, Mr Morrison, had been fully briefed on the sale.
Mr Tollner stood by the CLP’s decision to lease the port.
Former Federal Opposition leader Bill Shorten said Mr Morrison was “talking tough” when he had waved through the port deal “with no due diligence”.
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Chief Minister Michael Gunner said Labor opposed the CLP’s asset sales.
“Labor will protect our public assets in the future,” he said.
But those comments go against the grain of a speech Mr Gunner made in 2018, in which he said the NT and China were showing the rest of the country how “Chinese investment can work in Australia and how it can work well”.
“Think Landbridge and its long-term lease over the Port of Darwin,” he said at the time.
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