Prior to the poll, the two vowed to return Darwin Port to Australia’s control.
In the gust of promises leading up to the federal election, the Port of Darwin has regained control, and a major bipartisan pledge has emerged.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed that debate is already underway.
“We have been informally involved with potential buyers for a while,” the prime minister told ABC.
“If there is a need for direct federal involvement, we are ready to act,” he added.
Albanese jumped at the issue after opposition leader Peter Dutton realized he would pledge to reclaim Northern Port under Australia’s ownership.
In 2015, the then Liberal government in the Northern Territory leased the port of Darwin to land in China for 99 years.
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The $506 million deal sparked national security concerns, even from former US President Barack Obama, and the Turnbull government has stepped up its asset sales rules through the Foreign Investment Review Board.
Dutton has pledged that the Union government will take immediate steps to control what he described as a “strategic national asset.”
“It’s clear that mistakes were made in connection with the lease years ago and the way it was done by the territorial government at the time. But it’s in the past and we need to address the strategic situation we are facing at the moment,” he told reporters.
Albanese has refused port leases related to funding gaps
While visiting Darwin later today, Albanese was asked whether the denial of the port’s funding request contributed to the lease to Landbridge during his time as Minister of Infrastructure.
He denied any relationship.
“No, that’s simply not,” he said. “When I held my portfolio, Labour provided record-breaking infrastructure investments to the Northern Territory, including port upgrades.”
Albanese highlighted several major projects completed under his watch. This included expanding the railroad line into the port and converting Tiger Brennan Drive from a “goat truck” to a major highway connecting Darwin to Palmerston.
A general view of an access entry to Darwin Port in Australia’s Northern Territory on April 8, 2025. The ’99 lease of Darwin Port to China’s Landbridge Group has become a controversial issue in Australia’s federal elections. Darrian Traynor/Getty Images
“We not only promised that, we also provided funding and delivered it,” he said.
The Prime Minister also defended his broader legacy of port policy. “I attended the National Port Conference here,” he pointed out.
“When I asked people in the industry, I was the first federal minister to attend regularly and focus on infrastructure that was working to improve port productivity.”
He argued that the decision to lease the port came not from the perceived funding gap in 2013, but from the coalition’s asset recycling scheme introduced in the 2014 federal budget by then-treasurer Joe Hockey.
“The key moment wasn’t in 2013, it was in April 2016 when the NT CLP government received $19.5 million to hand over the port,” Albanese said.
“We opposed sales at the time and opposed the asset recycling program that encouraged it.”
Port debate rekindled by security and politics
Despite two separate federal reviews, one was launched in 2023 with Dutton as defense minister and the other by Albanese.
Both major political parties now argue that it is too important for the facility to remain under foreign control.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong strengthened that stance over the weekend, informing ABC insiders that the recent situation has led to a reassessment.
“The elected representatives decided that this critical infrastructure should be in Australia’s hands,” she said.
On April 8, Defense Minister Richard Marless was forced to decide whether security agencies pushed for the lease to be ended, or whether international partners such as the United States put pressure on them.
Marless did not confirm either scenario, but maintained long-standing concerns from workers regarding the 2015 transaction.
“We have consistently said for 10 years that the Port of Darwin should not be sold to a company with ties to foreign governments,” Marless told ABC’s afternoon briefing.
He reiterated the worker’s position that sales approved by the CLP-led NT government were incorrect from the start.
As the parties focus on national security in this election cycle, the fate of the Port of Darwin has reappeared as a litmus test of foreign investment policy and sovereignty management over strategic infrastructure.
