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Speaker 1: You're listening to Mix one oh four point nine three sixty. Now,

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Speaker 1: a parliamentary committee looking into Australia's trade links with China

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Speaker 1: has found that there were serious concerns about the lease

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Speaker 1: of the Darwin Port due to ongoing tensions with China

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Speaker 1: about state owned enterprises and companies owning or leasing strategic

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Speaker 1: infrastructure like the Port of Darwin. Now, for us here

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Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory, we've been talking about this for

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Speaker 1: quite some time. At the time when this port was leased,

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Speaker 1: people were really very angry. Now joining us on the

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Speaker 1: line right now is the chair of the Joint Standing

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Speaker 1: Committee on Trade and Investment Growth, mister George Christiansen. Good

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Speaker 1: morning to.

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Speaker 2: You, Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Now, what exactly has has been found, Well.

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Speaker 2: There's a lot of recommendations that our committee has come

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Speaker 2: out with the government in the remit of trade and

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Speaker 2: also foreign investment. But what's relevant to the Port of

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Speaker 2: Darwin is that we've called on the Australian government to

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Speaker 2: do a review of the Port of Darwin and how

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Speaker 2: that lease, that ninety nine lease, the year lease to

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Speaker 2: which Chinese company sits with our Australian foreign Relations, State

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Speaker 2: and Territory Arrangements Act and after that review is done,

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Speaker 2: if it's deemed not to be in the national interest.

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Speaker 2: And I've got to tell you, I think it is

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Speaker 2: like most people in the territory around Australia, that the

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Speaker 2: government's got to take measures to have that port brought

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Speaker 2: back under Australian ownership. But we're not only just pointing

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Speaker 2: out the Port of Darwin. We're actually saying that other

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Speaker 2: ports and other strategic infrastructure around the nation that's either

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Speaker 2: owned by or least to foreign corporations also should be

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Speaker 2: reviewed and brought back under Australian control.

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Speaker 1: George, is this latest push really because Australia's relationship with

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Speaker 1: China at the moment isn't what it has been in

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Speaker 1: the past.

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Speaker 2: Well, look, absolutely, I mean that there was a lot

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Speaker 2: of concern around state owned enterprises and state linked enterprises,

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Speaker 2: and certainly we know that the Port of Darwin is

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Speaker 2: owned by a state linked to enterprise, with land Bridge

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Speaker 2: having some very strategic ties with the Chinese military. So

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Speaker 2: that is a big issue not just to the national interest,

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Speaker 2: but to national security as well. And I just note

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Speaker 2: that one of the submitters to my inquiry or the

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Speaker 2: parliamentary inquiry which was the United States Study Center, said

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Speaker 2: that US national security officials have not forgotten Australia's surprise

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Speaker 2: announcement about leasing the port of Darwin to a Chinese company.

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Speaker 2: With foreign investment facing unprecedented pressure from nationalists and protectionist forces,

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Speaker 2: it is more important than ever for close allies to

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Speaker 2: seek to align or at least maintain a dialogue on

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Speaker 2: restrictions of foreign entities in their respective countries. So they

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Speaker 2: were flagging that there was shock amongst our allies, our

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Speaker 2: security allies, in making this decision, and I think that

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Speaker 2: that goes a long way to our national security.

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Speaker 1: George here in the Northern Territory, particularly here in Darwin,

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Speaker 1: know how strategically important we are. Obviously we've got very

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Speaker 1: close proximity to our Asian neighbors, but we also have

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Speaker 1: that presence when it comes to the American military. I mean,

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Speaker 1: has there been much looking into whether that sort of

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Speaker 1: makes us a bit of a target. And you know

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Speaker 1: how the fact that our port has obviously been leased

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Speaker 1: to a Chinese company, what kind of impact that then has.

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Speaker 2: Well? I think for sure that there is we are

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Speaker 2: a target. I mean we've seen over the past few years,

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Speaker 2: certainly in the past year arise in China targeting Australia

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Speaker 2: either economically or sadly, you know, with espionage or attempts

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Speaker 2: at cyber hacking and all that sort of stuff. So

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Speaker 2: it has made us vulnerable. And you know the problem

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Speaker 2: is this, We know this is happening. I mean, it's

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Speaker 2: out there for the whole world to see how China

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Speaker 2: is reacting to Australia and dealing with our country. And

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Speaker 2: yet we've allowed certain companies that have strategic links with

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Speaker 2: the Chinese military to own key infrastructure like the Port

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Speaker 2: of Darwin. So there is a complete disconnect there from reality.

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Speaker 1: Now, looking at this review, how soon does it need

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Speaker 1: to happen and is there a recommendation in that space?

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, well we've handed this to the government as

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Speaker 2: of yesterday and we've said here you go. Now up

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Speaker 2: to you to pick up these recommendations and run with it.

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Speaker 2: And I had some pretty strong words in the Parliament.

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Speaker 2: I basically said that, you know, when considering this, the

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Speaker 2: government needed to think pretty carefully on the national security

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Speaker 2: and national interest implications of failing to act. And our

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Speaker 2: whole report is just titled one simple word, pivot, because

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Speaker 2: we've put too many eggs in the China baskets. We

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Speaker 2: need to pivot away to ensure that they don't have

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Speaker 2: an economic stranglehold on our nation. So I said, failure

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Speaker 2: to act will be failure to pivot, and that will

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Speaker 2: mean long lasting consequences for this nation.

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Speaker 1: I mean, at the end of the day, we know

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Speaker 1: that this is a ninety nine year lease and it

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Speaker 1: obviously was worth five hundred and six million dollars. You know,

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Speaker 1: how if we do go back through this process, if

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Speaker 1: there is a review done and it is deemed that

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Speaker 1: we need to take back control over the Darwin Port,

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Speaker 1: you know, how do we put that five hundred and

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Speaker 1: six million dollars.

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Speaker 2: Well, whether it's worth five hundred and six million dollars

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Speaker 2: on the market today would be a matter for the courts. Obviously,

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Speaker 2: if you're going to reneg on a contract, there's going

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Speaker 2: to be some sort of compensation paid out. I mean,

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Speaker 2: the question is going to be what is what is

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Speaker 2: more costly paying out the remainder of a lease or

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Speaker 2: letting a company with strategic links to the Chinese military

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Speaker 2: operate a strategic port like the port of Darwin. So

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Speaker 2: that's the key question that government needs to face up

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Speaker 2: to what.

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Speaker 1: Do you reckon? The answer is George, get it back.

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Speaker 2: Get it back under Australian control, no matter what.

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Speaker 1: Well Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Trade and

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Speaker 1: Investment Growth, mister George Christensen, we really appreciate your time

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Speaker 1: this morning. Thanks so much for chatting with me.

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Speaker 2: Thank you very much.

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Speaker 1: Thank you. You're listening to mix one oh four point

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Speaker 1: nine is three sixty. Keen to hear your thoughts on

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Speaker 1: this one this morning eight nine four one one oh

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Speaker 1: four nine