Darwin's Chinese community calls for Labor, the Coalition to reconsider port lease plans

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Chinese community members in Darwin are urging federal Labor and the Coalition to reconsider plans to take back the Darwin Port lease from Chinese-owned company Landbridge.

Transcript

00:00A federal promise to take back the Darwin port lease from Chinese company Landbridge.

00:09Some believe it could make a meal of the NT's fragile economy.

00:14That will make it worse. Not only the business itself, also the investors' confidence.

00:22In the throes of this year's federal election campaign, both Labor and the Coalition have

00:28managed to get the port back into Australian hands, raising concerns from within Darwin's

00:34Chinese community.

00:35In Darwin, we don't have any major project so far for many years, so Darwin port is probably

00:43the one still alive.

00:45Events like this Darwin Dragon Boat Festival also receive annual funding from Landbridge,

00:52which community members fear will go and not be replaced once the lease is removed.

00:58For people living in the community here forever, like us, we do care and we feel very disappointed

01:07and very sad.

01:09It's hard to see this as anything aside from partisan politicking by both sides.

01:13Prior to the election promises, Landbridge's lease had been reviewed by successive federal

01:18governments, with no national security threats made clear.

01:22The sale was made in 2015. Governments of both stripes have been in power over the past

01:28decade. None of them have moved to get rid of the Chinese ownership of the port.

01:33If the next government can't find a buyer to take over the port and it's forced to strip

01:38the lease from Landbridge, the cost will likely be huge.

01:42And that'll be coming straight from the taxpayers' hip pocket and, you know, for no apparently

01:47good national security reason.

01:48Neither Labor nor the Coalition responded to questions about how much they'd pay to

01:53take back the lease. Or if there'd been any new national security advice over the

01:58port's operation here in Darwin that had come to the fore.

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