We must take back the Port of Darwin now!

There is absolutely no excuse for the Prime Minister not to take back the Port of Darwin.

Last Friday, Scott Morrison said he would take action on CCP-ownership of the Port “if there is any advice that I receive from the Department of Defence or intelligence agencies that suggest that there are national security risks”.

Well, here’s some advice from Advance Australia, Prime Minister:

There’s already enough evidence to suggest Australia faces an existential security risk as a result of the increasingly aggressive Chinese Communist Party controlling the largest deep-water port in northern Australia.

For example, just two years ago, the company which owns the Port of Darwin for the next 94 years, Landbridge, posted a video on its YouTube channel titled “Landbridge Group Worldwide Corporate Video”.

According to the slick corporate film, Landbridge “follows the One Belt and One Road to the world, so the world can feel the speed and strength of Chinese national enterprises”.

The company admitted it “will continue to actively respond to the call of the state, take the initiative to undertake major national strategic mechanisms, always adhere to the national interest … and strive to become the most influential multinational enterprise group on the Eastern Coast of China.”

The video boasted about how the Port of Darwin “is the largest deep-water port in northern Australia, the largest cruise home port in Australia, the nearest Australian port to Asia, and the only port for the export of oil, natural gas, minerals, containers, livestock and agricultural goods in north-west Australia.”

Perhaps more concerning was how it outlined the extent of the CCP’s plan for the Port of Darwin and its relation to the Pacific arm of its One Belt and Road Initiative.

As shown below, China aims to connect the Port of Darwin with “the largest private port in China” located in Shandong, and Landbridge’s Panama Margaret Port which covers the Atlantic entrance of the Panama Canal.

And although it’s true Landbridge and its ports in Darwin, Shandong and Panama are officially “privately owned”, “Chinese law requires all Chinese businesses to assist their intelligence services if asked”, as pointed out by Executive Director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Peter Jennings…

This is a national security risk, Prime Minister. There’s just no denying it.

Even Labor Senate leader, Penny Wong has now joined calls to take back the Port, saying “there is a legitimate question about whether this lease was in the national interest”.

Afterall, we’ve seen a situation like this play out in Australia before.

In the 1930s, Australia exported vast quantities of pig iron to Japan at the same time as it was rapidly militarising. With the iron, Japan built warships, fighter aircraft, bombs, ammunition and upgraded critical infrastructure. Only a matter of years later, Japan bombed Darwin, dropping two-and-a-half more bombs than it did on Pearl Harbour.

Now, Australia is exporting vast quantities of high-quality iron ore to the CPP while Xi Jinping is commissioning new nuclear-powered submarines, guided-missile cruisers and helicopter carries.

Yet back in Australia, we’re destined to rely on technologically obsolete submarines between 2030-35 and will struggle to build any ships amidst a global conflict or supply chain breakdown considering we’re a net steel importer. 

What could possibly go wrong?

As Senator Matt Canavan wrote last week, our “obsession with carbon emissions weakens the west because it means we can produce less tanks, aeroplanes and rockets than countries like China who ignore climate commitments while bullying their neighbours.

“No amount of ‘spying’ to find out what the score is will change the scoreboard that sees China getting stronger while we voluntarily handicap our own industry”.

It’s time for Australia to take back the Port of Darwin and rebuild our industry once and for all.

No longer can we allow the green-left and its fixation with reaching net-zero emissions endanger our national security.