Government urged to take back Darwin port lease from Chinese company

The Federal Government should consider scrapping a long-term lease of the Port of Darwin to a Chinese company if it threatens the national interest, a parliamentary committee has advised.

The Northern Territory Government leased the port to Chinese company Landbridge in a 99-year, $500 million deal in 2015.

The deal sparked concerns in Australia and overseas because it gave operational control of the strategic port to a foreign company when relations with China began to freeze.

READ MORE: Australia's key allies send support over China tensions

The US, which deploys hundreds of troops to Darwin every year, was also unhappy about the deal.

The then-president Barack Obama expressed US concerns to the prime minister at the time, Malcolm Turnbull.

Now the Federal Joint Standing Committee on Trade and Investment Growth has examined Australia's trade links with China and found there are major concerns about state owned companies leasing or owning strategic infrastructure.

Among its 21 recommendations the committee has flagged a report on whether the port lease comes under the Federal Government's new Foreign Relations Act.

The act enables the Australian Government to veto overseas deals made by states and territories.

The committee chairman Nationals MP George Christensen said having state-owned companies, and particularly authoritarian regimes, owning strategic Australian assets compromised the national interest.

"Notably, there are recommendations that go to serious concerns regarding state-owned enterprises and state-linked enterprises funding our universities and owning or leasing our strategic infrastructure, including the Port of Darwin," Mr Christensen said.

NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner has previously said his government has more urgent spending priorities than buying back the port from Landbridge.

Since the Port of Darwin lease was signed, relations between Canberra and Beijing have plummeted, hitting a new low in the past year.

China has been angered after the Federal Government called for an international investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and introduced new foreign interference legislation.

Beijing responded with trade sanctions on Australian coal, barley, live seafood, wine, timber and beef.