The Morrison government has asked the Department of Defence to review the Northern Territory’s 99-year-lease of the Port of Darwin to the Chinese-owned company Landbridge – a deal that has unsettled national security figures in the federal government since it was signed six years ago. Defence officials are looking at whether the company, owned by Chinese billionaire Ye Cheng, should be forced to give up its ownership of the port on national security grounds under critical infrastructure laws passed in 2018.
The federal opposition and national security experts have questioned the deal since it was signed in 2015.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton confirmed the National Security Committee of Cabinet had tasked his department to “come back with some advice, so that work is already under way”.
Asked whether the options would include forced divestment, Mr Dutton said the government needed to wait for Defence to provide its advice and, “we can look at options that are in our national interests after that”....MORE
