Albanian declares that the port controlled by Darwin’s Chinese should “be in the Australian hands” | Australian election 2025

The Labor government is on the hunt for a buyer for the port of Darwin Despite the Chinese company owned by the lease, insisting on the fact that it is not on sale.

Anthony Albanese revealed the plan after calling the local Radio Darwin on Friday afternoon in an attempt to go on with a similar announcement that the coalition made on Saturday.

Landbridge group took control of the port in 2015 After the Government of the Northern Territory, he signed an agreement of $ 506 million during financial coercion. The agreement gave Landbridge 100% operational control of the port.

In 2023 before a trip to BeijingAlbanian excluded the cancellation of the company’s lease.

But speaking with ABC Darwin, the Prime Minister indicated that he wanted commercial negotiations to take place and was “prepared to travel the path of the direct involvement of the taxpayers” if necessary.

He confirmed that two options were on the table – so that the port was privately owned by an Australian company or returned to being a resource of the government. The key, he said, is that “being in the Australian hands”.

“We are trying to see if there is a private buyer, in particular through the superanuation funds,” he said. “The (country’s liberal party) would never have had to flow.”

Meanwhile, Peter Dutton announced Saturday that the coalition would “move immediately” to remove the port of Darwin from the Chinese property

Make the announcement to Darwin, dutton He said that an elected coalition government will “move immediately” to guarantee the port of the city and remove it from the Chinese property.

“I am pleased to announce today that an elected coalition government will move immediately to secure the port of Darwin and to make sure that we can bring that national asset back to the Australian property or in a model where we have a greater certainty on the operator and the way in which the lease contract operates,” Dutton said.

“There has been a lot of debate on this problem for a long period of time. It is clear that a mistake was made many years ago in relation to the lease and the way in which it was undertaken by the then government of the territory. But this is the past, and we must face the strategic circumstances that we face at the moment.”

Albanian said that the government would “be said” before the federal elections on May 3, but claimed that Landbridge “did not have investments in the port required to make it scratch”.

“We don’t think it is used enough for Darwin,” he said. “Darwin has enormous potential to be an area of ​​growth to increase our exports through the port of Darwin, and this is part of the context with which we are dealing here.”

Albanian stated that the majority of ports in Australia, like airports, are owned by SuperranNuation funds, “which means that they are owned by the Australian people and help to make a contribution to their savings”.

Albanian also said that the question had been raised with the current and previous Territory of the North Governments “for a period of time”, but that the “Commonwealth also had separate discussions”.

Terry O’Connor, non -executive director of Landbridge in Australia, said that the company was not involved in “discussions” with the federal government concerning leasing agreements.

“As previously stated and confirmed by our owner, the port is not on sale,” said O’Connor.

“Landbridge considers the port a long -term investment that has recorded record operating services this year. We expect this growth in the future.”

Immediately after Albanian’s interview, Dutton said to News Corp: “In the current geopolitical environment, it is essential that this piece of critical infrastructure, which is directly opposite to the defense district of Larrakeyah, is managed by an entity of trust and the trusted Commonwealth”.

The agreement concluded by the Landbridge group in 2015, deriving from a tender procedure that began in 2014, gave him 100% of the port operational control.