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Speaker 1: We know that the Northern Territory government has written to

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Speaker 1: the Darwin Port operator land Bridge, seeking information after learning

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Speaker 1: that it's facing fresh financial woes. Sky News reporting that

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Speaker 1: Landbridge has posted a thirty four million dollar loss in

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Speaker 1: its annual report and he's relying on its parent company,

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Speaker 1: Shandong land Bridge Group to refinance debt, which could lead

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Speaker 1: to the forced sale of the port lease. Now, Matt

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Speaker 1: Cunningham broke this story yesterday. He joins me on the line.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Matt, get akad.

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Speaker 1: Matt tell us what is the situation.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's a little bit complicated, but I'll try and

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Speaker 2: simplify it. So basically it comes down to the parent

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Speaker 2: company of Landbridge. Landbridge Astray Infrastructure, as you say, has

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Speaker 2: posted that loss in the last financial year, more than

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Speaker 2: thirty million dollars. Now, I was spoken to Terry O'Connor

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Speaker 2: from the Darwen Port, their non executive director. He says,

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Speaker 2: it's an on paper loss, but the port's financial position

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Speaker 2: has actually been improving and its performance has been improving

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Speaker 2: year on year. The issue is with Shandong Lanbridge Group,

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Speaker 2: which is the Lanmbridge's parent company in China. Now, it

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Speaker 2: basically underwrits Lanbridge Infrastructure Australia and the ongoing operation of

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Speaker 2: the port in Darwin. Now, according to this director's report

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Speaker 2: that was submitted to ACIC earlier this month, there are

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Speaker 2: some issues with the finances of Shandong Lanbridge Group. It's

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Speaker 2: trying to restructure its debt which includes a one hundred

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Speaker 2: and seven million dollar bond that is overdue and is

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Speaker 2: in default now. In this report it says that if

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Speaker 2: that situation is not able to be rectified, it may

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Speaker 2: affect the ongoing financial viability of the Port of Darwin.

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Speaker 2: And it actually goes on to say that if that

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Speaker 2: situation is not resolved, a third party could be brought

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Speaker 2: in to actually on sell that lease to another company,

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Speaker 2: or in fact, if that sale was not able to

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Speaker 2: go through, the Northern Territory Government could then terminate the

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Speaker 2: lease of the Port of Darwin. Of course, that's that

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Speaker 2: ninety nine year leaite that was signed in twenty fifteen,

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Speaker 2: a month's great controversy when Washington, with Barack Obama having

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Speaker 2: a bit of a crack at Malcolm Turmble about it.

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Speaker 2: So it's been a controversial issue and it's back on

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Speaker 2: the table again today.

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Speaker 1: Well, and it most certainly has But Matt, I mean, like,

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Speaker 1: could this mean that you know that the lease then

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Speaker 1: comes back up that we end up having to having

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Speaker 1: to break the lease. I guess it's still real early days,

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Speaker 1: isn't it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, And this is a situation that it's flagged in

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Speaker 2: this in these documents that may take up to eighteen

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Speaker 2: months to potentially resolve. What is being flagged here is

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Speaker 2: that if that resolution cannot be reached, then it actually

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Speaker 2: does say in writing that one of the options on

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Speaker 2: the table is the termination of that lease, a decision

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Speaker 2: that would lie with the Northern Territory government. But already

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Speaker 2: this morning, Katie, I can tell you that there are

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Speaker 2: calls for the federal government and Anthony Albansi to step

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Speaker 2: in and actually revoke that lease. We've heard from James

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Speaker 2: Patterson this morning on Sky News, shadow Home Affairs Minister,

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Speaker 2: and he is calling on the Prime Minister to now

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Speaker 2: intervene in this situation and return the port to Australian hands.

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Speaker 2: We've heard these calls consistently since twenty fifteen. Of course,

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Speaker 2: there have been different reviews done by the Defense Department,

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Speaker 2: won most recently after the Alberansy government came to power

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Speaker 2: in twenty twenty two, and it came back last year

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Speaker 2: and found that the lease shouldn't be torn up and

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Speaker 2: that it found that the security concerns were not great

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Speaker 2: enough that the lease should be undone. We've also heard

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Speaker 2: this morning from John Alfrink. We made some interesting comments

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Speaker 2: as well, Katie. In response to James Patterson, he says

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Speaker 2: that any government would be barking mad to take back

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Speaker 2: the Port of Darwin, and he basically said that the

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Speaker 2: Anti government knew that the port was a dog when

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Speaker 2: it shouldered to Lambridge, and that he was quite surprised

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Speaker 2: that Lambridge was willing to take it on and pay

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Speaker 2: as much for it as it did. He says that

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Speaker 2: basically Northern Territory taxpayers got five hundred million dollars out

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Speaker 2: of this deal and avoided the ongoing costs of the

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Speaker 2: repairs and maintenance at the port. So I think in

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Speaker 2: his words, he said, Lambridge inherited a Saint Bernard's size

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Speaker 2: problem when it bought the portal or got the lease

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Speaker 2: of the port from the Northern Territory government. But of

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Speaker 2: course there are those security Yeah, we do know that

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Speaker 2: in twenty fifteen it did pass. That deal was approved

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Speaker 2: by both the foreign investment with view Board and the

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Speaker 2: Defense Department. The rules have since changed, particularly when it

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Speaker 2: comes to the FERB, so James Patterson pointing to that

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Speaker 2: as well and saying that, well, you know, there may

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Speaker 2: be the ability now for the federal government to step in.

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Speaker 1: It is such an interesting scenario, right because you and

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Speaker 1: I know we're both working here and know that there

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Speaker 1: was so much pushback from the public. People were furious

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Speaker 1: that the port had been leased to the Chinese operator

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Speaker 1: land Bridge. But then what we also know is that,

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Speaker 1: on the other hand, as John Elfranks pointed out this morning,

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Speaker 1: is that there hadn't really been much investment into the port.

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Speaker 1: The government didn't have the money to do a lot

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Speaker 1: with it. So we're sort of, you know, in a

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Speaker 1: bit of a difficult situation. But nonetheless a lot of

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Speaker 1: Territorians do want to see it go back into Australian hands.

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Speaker 1: I know it's just a lease, but people really felt

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Speaker 1: like it was a sale.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, I mean a ninety nine year lease is

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Speaker 2: as good as a sale, I suppose. And you do

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Speaker 2: rightly highlight the two sides of this coin, right, And

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Speaker 2: since we broke this story yesterday, we've seen these comments. Again,

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Speaker 2: you know, we're being floated with them, the people saying,

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Speaker 2: you know, how could we have ever done this? How

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Speaker 2: could we have given such a critical asset away to

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Speaker 2: the Chinese? And it needs to return to Australian hands.

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Speaker 2: But you know, I was down filming at the port

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Speaker 2: terminal yesterday and we can also see the difference in

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Speaker 2: the improvement in the infrastructure that has happened over the

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Speaker 2: past nine years. I mean, as you point out, you

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Speaker 2: have to remember that like that port was literally sinking,

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Speaker 2: and I think that the government of the previous Labor

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Speaker 2: government had been given some astronomical estimate as to the

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Speaker 2: cost of actually fixing the sinking port. I think it

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Speaker 2: was north of five hundred million dollars. Instead of having

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Speaker 2: a five hundred million dollar bill to repair that bit

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Speaker 2: of infrastructure, I suppose we made the five hundred million dollars.

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Speaker 2: The question is at what cost did that come? Now?

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Speaker 2: You know, I've spoken at length to many people about this,

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Speaker 2: including Dave Tolner, who was one of the architects of

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Speaker 2: the bill, and he will tell you until he's blue

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Speaker 2: in the face that the security implications are overstated. But

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Speaker 2: there are others who certainly have those concerns, and I

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Speaker 2: don't think it's any secret that those concerns have gone

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Speaker 2: all the way to Washington well.

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Speaker 1: And I guess over the last few years as well,

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Speaker 1: what we have seen is that, you know, our relationship

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Speaker 1: with China in a lot of ways has sort of

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Speaker 1: been there's been pressure on it. Australia's relationship with China

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Speaker 1: has seen some pressure put on it for different reasons,

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Speaker 1: mainly due to exports and trade and that kind of stuff.

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Speaker 1: But you do sort of wonder that whether that has

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Speaker 1: any impact in any way, shape or form. I mean,

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Speaker 1: it's hard to know where things are going to go.

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Speaker 2: Well yeah, well, not just you know, from a trade

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Speaker 2: point of view, but also from a security point of view.

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Speaker 2: I mean, we've we've seen the ramp up of China's

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Speaker 2: presence in the South China Sea. I think we have

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Speaker 2: a very different relationship and a very different approach to

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Speaker 2: China in twenty twenty four than what we did even

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Speaker 2: as recently as twenty fifteen, and perhaps in the year

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Speaker 2: or two or three after that. I remember Michael Gunner

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Speaker 2: when he was his Chief Minister, would have been around twenty seventeen,

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Speaker 2: I suppose, making it a very pro China speech at

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Speaker 2: the Darwin Convention Center. I think you know, you wouldn't

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Speaker 2: see a Chief Minister or a Prime minister making a

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Speaker 2: speech quite as emphatically pro China today, So you know,

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Speaker 2: it is a changing relationship. It's a difficult one because

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Speaker 2: we do rely on China for so much about trade,

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Speaker 2: but at the same time there are obviously a security implications.

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Speaker 1: Well, Matt, we're getting quite a few messages this morning

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Speaker 1: on a very different topic about your DOCCO last night.

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Speaker 1: Some people are very keen to see it, but they're

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Speaker 1: not subscribing to they don't subscribe to Sky. You can

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Speaker 1: for quite a cheap option each month month, can't you.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, five bucks is all litill cost you. I think

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Speaker 2: you go to you go to the Sky News website

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Speaker 2: skynews dot com dot au and there's an actual there's

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Speaker 2: a link there where you can click on it and

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Speaker 2: you can watch watch the docco if you're a premium subscriber,

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Speaker 2: which does cost you five dollars a month, so you

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Speaker 2: need to sign up and it will also be on

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Speaker 2: again at m on Friday. Well Sky News Channel six hundred.

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Speaker 1: Well, Cheryl a messaged overnight. She said, Hi, Katie, I

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Speaker 1: just what Matt Cunningham's Cyclone Tracy report. Oh my goodness,

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Speaker 1: you need to pat that man on the back. I

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Speaker 1: was crying from the start, from the time that it started.

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Speaker 1: She hopes that con is watching how it tore the

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Speaker 1: hearts out of Darwin people apart the monument that they

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Speaker 1: have to represent this anniversary as such a major event

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Speaker 1: of one of how historical events, and Cheryl says, it's

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Speaker 1: appalling that monument. Why was there not a structure of

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Speaker 1: the times of when this occurred, such as the twisted

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Speaker 1: steel remnants of which still exists today. Others have messaged

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Speaker 1: through and just said it was an incredible documentary, so

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Speaker 1: sounds like it was very well done. Matt, I've not

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Speaker 1: had the chance to watch it. I'm gonna have to

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Speaker 1: try and watch it tonight.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, I think really it's if people did enjoy

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Speaker 2: it and were moved by that's testament to you, not

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Speaker 2: to me or our team, but to the people who's

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Speaker 2: featured in the documentary. And you know, it was a privilege.

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Speaker 2: I've got to say, Katie, to hear and to tell

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Speaker 2: the stories of some of those people. I know You've

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Speaker 2: got Anthony Bullick on shortly and he was one of

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Speaker 2: the main people who featured in our documentary, and you know,

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Speaker 2: I sat down with him, I reckon for over an

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Speaker 2: hour and I was just I think I was I

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Speaker 2: think my jaw was on the floor for most of

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Speaker 2: that hour, just listening, you know, to him recount what

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Speaker 2: had happened to him as a twelve year older and

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Speaker 2: to his family and the impact that it had on them.

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Speaker 2: You know, it was just incredible, and there were so

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Speaker 2: many stories like that. I mean it was to be honest,

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Speaker 2: it was a thirty minute documentary and we could have

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Speaker 2: done three hours. And I'm sure there are many more

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Speaker 2: people who have stories to tell about Cyclone Tracy. I

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Speaker 2: think it's a real shame what's happening is this debark

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Speaker 2: over here the monument. But you know, the Cyclone Tracy

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Speaker 2: survivors and the Remembering Cyclone Tracy Committee are of course

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Speaker 2: doing their own monument at each point and having an

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Speaker 2: unveiling there on Christmas Day, and I think that's going

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Speaker 2: to be a really special moment.

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Speaker 1: Yea, I agree, I reckon it will be. Well. Matt Cunningham,

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Speaker 1: good to speak with you. We'll talk to you again

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Speaker 1: very soon.

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Speaker 2: No worry.

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Speaker 1: Thanks mate, sir