More options available than seizing Port of Darwin back with cash or letting lease run its course security expert says

REDUCING the national security risks linked to the control of the Port of Darwin by a Chinese-owned company could include forcing a sale or government taking partial control of the asset, a security expert has said

REDUCING the national security risks linked to the control of the Port of Darwin by a Chinese-owned company could include forcing a sale or government taking partial control of the asset, a security expert has said.

The leasing of the Port of Darwin has been brought back into the national spotlight after a parliamentary committee scrutinising Australia’s trade links with China called for the federal government to look into whether the $506m, 99-year-lease could fall foul of recently enacted foreign relations laws.

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Dr John Coyne, Australian Strategic Policy Institute

Dr John Coyne, head of Northern Australia strategic policy at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said what could be done about Landbridge’s lease of the Port of Darwin was not a “binary choice” of letting the company ride out its time or forcing the government to pay up.

Dr Coyne said there was a “whole range” of other options, including a forced sale of the port on the market, taking back partial control or offsetting the risk through joint-military infrastructure projects on the harbour with allies like the US.

Professor Paul Dibb from ANU’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre said the main national security risk associated with the lease was covert surveillance, particularly of warships.

HMAS Arunta arrives in Darwin Habour. Picture Katrina Bridgeford.

Beyond surveillance, Dr Coyne said the “suboptimal” outcome of placing control of the key asset in the hands of a foreign owned company was a risk to the NT’s supply chains, including rare earths, the cattle export market and fuel supply.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner yesterday again asserted he doesn’t think the government, his or the Commonwealth, should spend $500m attempting to buy back the port.

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Mr Gunner’s federal Labor colleague Solomon MP Luke Gosling, took a different view, telling parliament the Commonwealth had to “act now” to review the “unacceptable lease arrangement of the Port of Darwin”.

“Like many, I have long held deep concerns about the deal, and the possible national security implications,” he said.