Albanese urged to seize on US offer for Darwin port

Anthony Albanese has been urged to leverage an offer by a US private equity firm to buy the Port of Darwin to deliver an ultimatum to its Chinese owner: sell it or have it seized.

The entry to the Port of Darwin, owned by China’s Landbridge Group. Picture: Getty Images

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Anthony Albanese has been urged to leverage an offer by a US private equity firm to buy the Port of Darwin to deliver an ultimatum to its Chinese owner – sell the ­facility or have it seized by the ­government.

As The Australian revealed on Tuesday, New York-based Cerberus Capital Management is preparing a formal proposal to buy the port from Landbridge Group’s billionaire Chinese owner, Ye Cheng.

James Paterson, the opposition’s former home affairs spokesman who is in line for a senior national security role, said the Prime Minister needed to act after he gazumped Peter Dutton’s election pledge to strip Landbridge of its 99-year lease over the port.

“After flip-flopping on the Port of Darwin for years, Mr Albanese finally copied the Coalition’s homework during the election campaign and promised to restore it to Australian control,” Senator Paterson said. “Now there is at least one willing buyer,

“Labor must ensure the lease is transferred to an Australian-­government approved operator.

“If the Landbridge Group is unwilling to facilitate the sale on commercial terms, the Prime Minister must use the commonwealth’s significant constitutional powers to ensure a sale occurs.”

Mr Albanese pledged on Darwin radio during the election campaign that Labor would return the facility to “Australian hands” by securing a buyer or bringing it back under public ownership.

The move came less than 24 hours after Mr Dutton was due to announce the Coalition would forcibly acquire the port’s lease if it was not sold within six months of the election.

The Port of Darwin from above. Picture: ASCO

Senator Paterson said while Cerberus Capital Management was not an Australian company, it would be an acceptable buyer under Australia’s foreign investment rules. “Any buyer from Australia, or a strategic ally like the US that can receive Foreign Investment Review Board approval, would be preferable to the Landbridge Group,” he said.

Former Defence Department deputy secretary Peter Jennings said the US firm’s offer for the port was a “golden opportunity” for the Prime Minister to “quickly liberate” the port from its Chinese owner.

“The Albanese government should be rejoicing if Cerberus is interested in taking over the Port of Darwin,” he writes in The Australian.

“Darwin can become a strong part of a regional deterrence strategy focused on dampening Chinese military adventurism.”

Cerberus Capital Management met last week with Landbridge Group, Northern Territory Treasurer Bill Yan and Labor MP for Solomon Luke Gosling to discuss its proposal to buy the port.

Mr Gosling, who campaigned heavily on Labor’s plan to return the port to Australian control, declined to comment on Tuesday.

Cerberus Capital Management has close ties to the Trump administration, with its co-founder Steve Feinberg now serving as the US Deputy Defence Secretary.

It’s understood the investment firm’s offer will be slightly above the $506m Landbridge paid 10 years ago for its 99-year lease over the facility. The company says the facility is not for sale, but one source said the port operator was open to offers of about $1bn.