Scott Morrison asks for urgent review into the Chinese-owned Port of Darwin agreement – as national security experts warn the controversial agreement is a ‘strategic own goal’
Scott Morrison has asked for an urgent review into the Chinese-owned Port of Darwin agreement, which was signed six years ago.
The Department of Defence will determine whether Landbridge should cease ownership of the Northern Territory port on national security grounds and under critical infrastructure laws.
The deal, which was signed in 2015 and involves the 99-year-lease of the Port of Darwin, has been questioned by federal opposition and national security experts.
Pictured: The Royal Caribbean ship Legend of the Seas docked at Port of Darwin
Defence Minister Peter Dutton confirmed his department was going to ‘come back with some advice’ after the probe was requested by the National Security Committee of Cabinet, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Landbridge is owned by Chinese billionaire Ye Cheng.
Last week, the prime minister suggested his government would take action if he received that advice from the department.
‘If there is any advice that I receive from the Department of Defence or intelligence agencies that suggest that there are national security risks there then you’d expect the government to take action on that, and that would be right,’ Mr Morrison said.
Director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s defence program, Michael Shoebridge said he wondered whether operating the port is in the ‘company’s commercial interests’ amid ‘the strategic environment they find themselves’.
‘I think it’s obvious that if the Darwin port lease was being considered today, the result would not be to lease it to a Chinese-owned company for 99 years,’ he said.
More to come
Scott Morrison has asked for an urgent review into the Chinese-owned Port of Darwin agreement