Australian taxpayers may be on the hook for over $500 million to regain control of the Port of Darwin, which was leased to a Chinese-owned company for 99 years in 2015. The deal, valued at $506 million, granted the Chinese firm Landbridge 80 percent ownership and full operational control, while the Northern Territory government retained a 20 percent stake. The transaction drew criticism at the time, including from then-US President Barack Obama, due to the port's strategic location.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged during the last election campaign to return the port to Australian hands, citing its importance as a military asset and asserting that the original sale was not in Australia's national interest. "I believe it should be back in Australian hands. That's what we're doing," Albanese stated earlier this year. He added, "I think that was a mistake, and I'm determined that it will come back into Australian hands, and we're negotiating those issues through."
However, experts suggest that the government's efforts to reacquire the port could be costly. Associate Professor Colin Hawes of the University of Technology Sydney told Yahoo News Australia that under the Lands Acquisition Act, the government would need to offer fair compensation, likely at market value, which could exceed the initial $506 million paid by Landbridge. "It's quite likely it would be higher than what Landbridge paid for it," Hawes noted.
Adding to the potential expense are legal proceedings initiated by Landbridge, whose owner, Ye Cheng, brought the dispute to the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). A tribunal was appointed in August, and emergency temporary legal protections were ordered in September. Hawes indicated that such cases can take one to two years to resolve and could incur millions of dollars in legal fees. If the tribunal rules in Landbridge's favor, Australia could be ordered to pay compensation.
Despite concerns, two government reviews, one under the previous Coalition government and another under the current Labor administration, found no national security grounds to terminate the lease. The government has not yet announced a timeline for the proposed sale.
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has criticized the Prime Minister for a lack of progress on the issue, stating, "There's been no moves to fix this problem. This should not be in Chinese (possession). The Port of Darwin is a strategic asset, obviously strong military interest in getting it right." He urged Albanese to "get on with it and do exactly what he said he was going to do."
China's outgoing ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, has opposed the plan, warning that forceful measures to take back the port could jeopardize broader investment and trade relations between China and Australia. "When you're losing money, you lease it to a foreign company, and when it has started making money, you want to take it back. That's not a way to do business," Qian commented earlier this year. He added that China has an "obligation to protect" the interests of its companies abroad and that taking back the port "might also affect the substantive investment, cooperation and trade between Chinese companies and that part of Australia. That is not in the interest of Australia either."