'Second Darwin Port' nothing to do with 2015 lease: Barnaby
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has dismissed criticism of funding for a second Darwin Port as 'poor politics'.
Northern Territory
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DEPUTY Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has dismissed criticism of funding for a second Darwin Port as “poor politics”, despite the CLP’s leasing of the infrastructure to a Chinese-backed company in 2015.
In an interview with the NT News on Saturday, Mr Joyce also claimed fracking in the Beetaloo Basin will help ward off the growing threat of China.
It comes as the CLP pushes to bring the NT seat of Lingiari into the Coalition tent. Insiders in both political parties admit the battle for the safe Labor seat is heating up with the retirement of long-time incumbent Warren Snowdon.
The Coalition has promised $2.6bn to develop parts of the Territory, including new logistics, a second port and money to help carbon capture and storage and clean hydrogen.
In an interview with the NT News on Saturday, Mr Joyce went on the offensive when asked whether the Coalition was only funding new facilities at Middle Arm to get around the Chinese ownership of the existing Darwin Port.
“(Labor) have got to stop talking history lessons which aren’t even correct,” he said.
Mr Joyce said criticism of the plans were “such poor politics” before saying plans to develop Middle Arm would help make Australia “as strong as possible as quickly as possible.”
Amid furore over the Solomon Islands' defence deal with China, the Nationals leader said the security Territorians had become used to over previous decades was ending.
But Mr Joyce also said the NT needed to “exploit” the region’s resources, including from fracking in the Beetaloo, citing it as a key to growing Northern Australia’s economy and standing up to China.
“If you’re not strong, people can put their foot on your throat and just saying the word strength is very false,” he said.
“You’ve got to make the hard decisions about how you do it and that’s why you develop the Beetaloo.”
“You’re going to be saying (to future generations), ‘did I do my job to make sure that you don’t have to deal with a threat that is now very present’?”
However, Mr Joyce said the NT was also well placed to deepen ties with other Asian nations.
“I’m actually making it happen, because off our coast is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, in Indonesia, where hundreds of millions of people live,” he said.
“As a market, (Darwin) is vastly closer to Jakarta than it is to Canberra.”
When asked why Territorians should pick the Coalition for a fourth term, Mr Joyce said it was because he personally made sure the NT kept its two seats in federal parliament.
“We made sure Lingiari was in a wonderful position,” he said.
Second Darwin Port at Middle Arm amid Chinese ownership row
THE federal government has doubled down on its claim it is building a second port in Darwin Harbour, but confusion has grown about what it actually is.
While the Defence Minister has claimed the ADF could use the new facility, key details still haven’t been finalised between the federal and Territory governments.
Budget papers released on Tuesday earmarked $1.5b for construction of what effectively is a second port. But the NT government continues to be under the impression it is merely a “wharf” that will be used only to bring heavy manufacturing components onshore for its ambitious Middle Arm advanced manufacturing precinct.
That’s at odds with Defence Minister Peter Dutton, who again on Friday suggested the Defence Department had been considering the new Middle Arm facility as a place to dock military vessels.
“There’s also other work that can be done through ports including with defence, refuelling, reprovisioning repairing so there is an opportunity in Darwin,” Mr Dutton told the ABC’s AM program.
“We’re happy to look at the proposal here and we’re working through that and we’ll have more to say in time in relation to it.”
On Thursday, senior bureaucrats in Canberra told Senate Estimates that the Defence Department had been in discussions with the federal infrastructure department over it.
On Friday, the NT News learnt Infrastructure Minister Barnaby Joyce was still working to determine details of the port in conjunction with the Northern Territory government.
Federal Labor has questioned whether the NT government’s sale of the existing Darwin Port, made under the CLP, had prompted the federal government to build the new facility.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner on Wednesday said the Middle Arm precinct would support 20,000 jobs and the wharf facility would primarily support local manufacturing.
The government has said it believes the new port would not replace the Darwin Port’s operations.
Second Darwin Port to be built at Middle Arm
THE federal government will build a second Darwin Port at Middle Arm for $1.5b.
But the NT government has rejected the notion it will replace the existing facility, saying it will instead be dedicated purely toward offloading massive components for advanced manufacturing at Middle Arm.
The existing port has been subject to controversy over its 99-year lease by the NT government in 2015, to Chinese government-backed company Landbridge. The port has been subject to a defence review.
Budget papers released on Tuesday showed the government wanted to spend $1.5b on dredging and facilities at Darwin Port, but offered no specifics as to where exactly the money would be spent.
But Defence Minister Peter Dutton on Thursday revealed the new development could be used by the Australian Defence Force and other militaries, according to The Australian.
And in Senate estimates later that same day, Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications department secretary Simon Atkinson was asked by Senator Malarndirri McCarthy whether the money would be spent on a new port.
“We will be working with the NT government on port facilities in Middle Arm,” Mr Atkinson said.
“We’ve been working with the Northern Territory government about the economic future of the Northern Territory.”
The department’s deputy secretary Dr Rachel Bacon said the facility would include “a wharf, offloading facility, dredging of the shipping channel and common use facilities”.
Dr Bacon also explained that another $440m included in the budget for “logistics hubs” in Katherine, Alice Springs and Tennant Creek would include passing loops of the Territory’s only rail line and facilities to help put freight onto rail.
Nationals Senator Bridget MacKenzie was not able to say when the three logistics hubs would be built.
The NT News has contacted Chief Minister Michael Gunner for comment.
Mr Gunner’s office indicated it was a large upgrade on an existing port.
gas plants and manufacturing.
Originally published as 'Second Darwin Port' nothing to do with 2015 lease: Barnaby
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