Dutton says Coalition would ‘move immediately’ to remove Port of Darwin from Chinese ownership
Peter Dutton is appearing in Darwin now to officially announce an elected Coalition government would “move immediately” to secure the city’s Port and remove it from Chinese ownership.
I’m pleased to announce today that an elected Coalition government will move immediately to secure the Darwin port and to make sure that we can bring that national asset … back into Australian ownership or into a model where we have greater assurance about the operator and the way in which the lease operates.
There’s been a lot of debate over this issue for a long period of time. It’s clear that a mistake was made many years ago in relation to the lease and the way in which that was undertaken by the then territory government. But that is the past, and we need to deal with the strategic circumstances that we face at the moment.
Key events
Global fallout is continuing over the Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs, including amongst the US’s major allies.
The United Kingdom has been imposed the same 10% tariff rate as Australia – the baseline rate being applied to all countries.
The ABC reports Anthony Albanese discussed the global response with the UK’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, and efforts to ensure trade barriers don’t continue to escalate.
A spokesperson for the PM said he “reaffirmed support for free and fair trade and the need for leaders to ensure that there was not an escalation of trade impediments”, while Starmer’s spokesperson said “an all-out trade war would be extremely damaging and is in nobody’s interests”.
So where is Dutton heading next?
He told reporters at the conclusion of his press conference that there would be a picture opportunity later on today and “maybe a petrol stop”.
Dutton enthusiastically pumped the bowser during a visit to a service station in Carlingford, in Sydney’s north-west, yesterday, but perhaps Darwin’s servos have better lighting for pictures.
He also noted the press pack had changed somewhat as we entered the second week of the campaign, telling reporters during his presser that the pace was “too quick” for some.
Welcome to the new faces … Good of you to join us here. Burnt a few others out. Pace is too quick. They’ve taken a rest. Some have been subbed in. Well done.
If you’re wondering what exactly the Coalition’s work from home policy actually means, it’s understandable to be confused.
The shadow finance and public service minister, Jane Hume, introduced the policy on 3 March, stating all public service workers would have to return to the office if the Coalition won government. “Exceptions can and will be made,” she said, “but they will be made where they work for everyone.”
Since then, it has been walked back, with Dutton declaring it would only apply to public servants in Canberra.
Now, he says “flexibility continues”, and has appeared to indicate existing EBAs that allow staff to work from home would still apply.
So if you’re a public servant outside Canberra, or you have the ability to work from home embedded in your enterprise agreement, you would be exempt, which leaves a significantly smaller pool of people to be impacted.
The last question comes from Andrew Probyn, who you may recall became a TikTok sensation in 2020 when Scott Morrison said he didn’t “run the press conference”.
I know that bashing up the public service is a bit of a political sport and has been for decades, but you have added some complexion to your work-from-home policy. You are saying that it will only affect people who work in Canberra in the public service.
Two-thirds of the public service live outside of the ACT, so why is it fair for someone who works for the defence force in Perth, Mr Hastie’s town, that they can work from home, but not from Canberra?
Dutton says the “bulk of the public service is in Canberra”, to which Probyn interjects “a third of the public service”.
Dutton:
Under Mr Rudd and Ms Gillard, the public service, from that period until now, under this government, the way they have increased the number of public servants has increased threefold. In Canberra, there are different dynamics around travel and different dynamics in regional parts where public servants are working remotely … Flexibility continues, whether it’s in Canberra or whether it’s outside of Canberra, so the scare campaign that has taken place has been quite disingenuous, misleading and politically based.
Our argument is we want the most efficiency for our taxpayers who are working harder than ever under this government. So, people have, I think, a reasonable expectation to know that if their taxpayer dollars are contributing to the public service, that we’re delivering the public service in the most efficient way possible.
And he’s off!
Dutton is pointed to the fact women with children work in the public service in Canberra.
Yes, but I’ve said we are very happy for flexibility in that workplace as well … we have to make sure that where we have taxpayers’ money being expended on wages for public servants in Canberra that we’re getting the most efficiency for taxpayers out of that investment and I don’t think that’s controversial.
For the prime minister to be out there and Jim Chalmers and others trying to scare women in workplaces across the country, I think is a disgrace. I’ve said very clearly that where you’ve got existing arrangements, which happens in Canberra now in the public service, you have EBAs that are there that allow for work from home arrangements, we are not proposing to change those and that’s the reality.
On to other matters, Dutton is asked about YouGov polling released last night, which painted a dire picture for the Coalition’s plan to force public servants to work in the office.
“Will you reconsider your policy?”
He accuses the government of “scaring Australians”.
Their response in relation to Medicare, to suggest that we would cut money from hospital funding or Medicare when we are in government, it is a complete lie … Why do they want to scare women when the policy doesn’t affect anybody except for public servants in Canberra.
Two-thirds of public servants live outside Canberra.
Dutton continues to talk about Medicare.
I think people who are listening to the Labor party lies at the moment and the scare campaign that is under way, I would say why aren’t they talking about their record, if it’s so good? I think that’s important.
Dutton says he “strongly supports” work from home and the policy has no impact on the private sector or public sector outside Canberra, and accuses the prime minister of “lying to Australian women”.
Why he would go out there trying to deceive people, that’s a question you would have to ask him. But I think it’s actually pretty tardy and I think the prime minister has been caught out telling fibs a few times now and his record is starting to build up of somebody whose word I wouldn’t trust on some of these issues.
Dutton is asked if he looked into the ownership of the port when he was defence minister.
“Yes,” he replies.
And what conclusion did you draw?
Dutton says the advice at the time was “there wasn’t a need to act”.
I didn’t agree with that advice, I might say, at the time, but that was the advice that the government received, and we have now found ourselves in a position where we have the advice, it is definite, the strategic circumstances have deteriorated for our country …
Dutton says if the Coalition needed to introduce further legislation to bring the port to a compulsory acquisition, he would.
It is absolutely essential that this port returns back into ownership that is consistent with the threat and the environment that we see ourselves in, in this century.
We need to make sure that when we’ve got 100 warships passing through that port or pass that port or in the vicinity of that port on a yearly basis that we can do it in a way that doesn’t raise any concerns about our national security interests and that’s why we’ve acted.
Dutton is pointed to his recent reshuffle of cabinet, including appointing Jacinta Price in a role of government efficiency and waste.
“Can you ensure Australians will know what waste will be before the election or will it be like Doge (the Trump administration’s own department of government efficiency)?”
He says it will “be like the Howard government”.
That is they had a Labor mess to clean up. Have a look at what’s happening in Victoria at the moment. The Labor party has almost bankrupted that economy. In Queensland it was a similar story under Annastacia Palaszczuk and Steven Miles.
All you are seeing with the Albanese government is the first phase of that type of governing. They’ve spent an amount of money which has driven up the cost of everything … Labor always taxes and spends, and in Victoria they are finding different ways to tax because they are running out of money. That’s how Labor governs.
In other words, we do not know what the waste will be.
Last month Dutton said he would prioritise a meeting with Xi Jinping just as much as Donald Trump. Is that still true?
“Yes,” he replies.
Asked where today’s decision puts him in that relationship, he says the trading relationship Australia has with China is important and he wants to make sure “that we expand it”.
But ultimately, as China does, we have to make Australia stand up for her national interest. An Australian company wouldn’t be able to operate a port in Beijing and we are saying in this time, as the prime minister points out rightly, I think, we live in the most precarious period since the end of the second world war, since 1945, and I think it’s appropriate that we take the actions that meet the pressures and the concerns and the threats of the time.
We can have a good trading relationship and respectful relationship with China, which is why we spoke to the ambassador ahead of the announcement that we made.
Asked whether the announcement would assist with tariff negotiations with the White House, Dutton says the Coalition has been planning the policy since before Trump’s inauguration.
We have announced a policy which is in our country’s best interests. That’s been the sole motivation here. We want to make a decision and to clean up a decision that shouldn’t have been made years ago. I think what we’ve demonstrated to the Australian public is that when it comes to national security, the Coalition has the runs on the board, we understand the difficult environment in which we live and we understand the response that is proportionate.
As for whether it will antagonise China, Dutton repeats it’s “about standing up for our national interest”.
As defence minister, as home affairs minister, I think I demonstrated every day, as well as a police officer many years ago, that I will take the decisions, sometimes hard decisions, but the decisions that will make our country safe and I’ve done that over the course of my working life and it is what I want to do as our country’s prime minister as well.
Dutton is asked why Scott Morrison didn’t make this decision when he was in power.
We are in 2025 and the circumstances have significantly deteriorated, even just in the last three years, let alone where it was 10 years ago, so we need to make sure we act in our country’s best interests and that’s the decision we have taken.
He says Labor had three years to “deal with this issue” and they haven’t.
This is a decision that is in our country’s best interest. We know that we live in uncertain times and the government has had three years to deal with this issue and they haven’t done that. We have taken the decision in a considered way. We will negotiate in good faith and I believe in six months we can arrive at an outcome.
If that’s not the case, then we will move to make sure the asset comes back into ownership arrangements that are in line with our national security needs and our national interest, and that’s what we will apply.
Peter Dutton is asked about how he feels to be “snaked” by the PM on the port announcement. He points to Anthony Albanese’s radio interview on ABC Darwin yesterday evening, calling it “incoherent”.
Anthony should have been better prepared. He’s had three years in preparation to make that phone call. It was a train wreck interview. I think, if you read the transcript, nobody was any the wiser as to what the prime minister’s actually done for three years. That’s the problem. The prime minister had three years to sort this out.
The Landbridge operators have told us publicly, as you’ve seen, there’s no discussion with the government that’s been under way. So I don’t know who’s telling the truth there … There are many other examples where the government just can’t get its story right.
Dutton says the Coalition had contact with the Chinese ambassador yesterday “out of respect”.
I don’t know whether the prime minister made a call before he called ABC radio, but we have thought through this process for a long period of time, and the prime minister jumping on the phone trying to get in on the announcement that we’ve made today I think shows that this prime minister is like the fireman who turns up to the fire when the fire has been extinguished. He is too late to everything.
The acting chief minister of the Northern Territory, Gerard Maley, thanks Dutton for making the announcement, incorrectly referring to him as the “federal government”.
This announcement’s going to give certainty to the Northern Territory. The political climate across the world has changed recently … only the Coalition government is going to do this in a way that’s going to benefit Territorians.
Andrew Hastie is up next before Dutton takes questions.
He says Darwin is an “important part of Australian geography” for economic and national security.
Today’s announcement from Peter Dutton is critical. It’s about securing our future. It’s about securing our critical infrastructure. And it’s about making Australia safe. Because it goes without saying we are living in dangerous and uncertain times, and we need to get Australia back on track.
Dutton points to the circumnavigating of Chinese naval ships as pressing the need for the port to be returned to Australian hands.
The intelligence briefings that I’ve had over the course of my time as the leader of the opposition indicate the position has only deteriorated. We’ve now seen, of course, the circumnavigating of our country by Chinese naval ships. So we need to make sure that we recognise the times in which we live and why it’s important for us to take back this particular asset.
There are about 100 warships a year – Australian and allied warships – which go through this area. And we need to make sure that, with our partners, we’re able to work constructively and in an environment which is conducive to our national security interests.
Dutton says Coalition would ‘move immediately’ to remove Port of Darwin from Chinese ownership
Peter Dutton is appearing in Darwin now to officially announce an elected Coalition government would “move immediately” to secure the city’s Port and remove it from Chinese ownership.
I’m pleased to announce today that an elected Coalition government will move immediately to secure the Darwin port and to make sure that we can bring that national asset … back into Australian ownership or into a model where we have greater assurance about the operator and the way in which the lease operates.
There’s been a lot of debate over this issue for a long period of time. It’s clear that a mistake was made many years ago in relation to the lease and the way in which that was undertaken by the then territory government. But that is the past, and we need to deal with the strategic circumstances that we face at the moment.
