Anthony Albanese has declared it is “beyond my comprehension” that the Morrison government would introduce a sweeping power to veto state and territory agreements with foreign governments, and not look at the sale of the Port of Darwin to a Chinese company.
The prime minister last week telegraphed his intention to bring forward legislation creating new powers to stop state, territory and local governments and universities entering agreements with foreign governments that the government considers detrimental to Australia’s foreign policy objectives.
Labor has signalled in-principle support for a proposal allowing the commonwealth to ensure any agreements by sub-national governments are consistent with Australia’s foreign policy objectives, and says it will examine the legislation when the government produces it.
On Sunday, the Labor leader said the Port of Darwin should never have left Australian hands.
“If we’re going to look at this, and that’s a reasonable thing to do, then let’s have a look it, and I think certainly in terms of the national interest, the Port of Darwin is critical,” he said.
Asked whether that sale should be overturned, Albanese told the ABC: “Well, we’ll have that debate, no doubt, as part of this.”
In 2015 the Northern Territory government signed a $506m agreement with a Chinese based group for a 99-year lease. That deal gives the Landbridge Group 100% operational control of the port and 80% ownership of the Darwin Port land, facilities of East Arm wharf including the marine supply base, and Fort Hill wharf.
After the sale generated a furore, the Morrison government subsequently tightened the foreign investment rules, requiring the Foreign Investment Review Board to approve the sale of critical infrastructure belonging to the states and territories, such as airports and ports, to private companies.
When the government flagged the veto proposal last week, the foreign minister Marise Payne said the bill coming to the parliament would not capture the Port of Darwin sale, because the new power was about “government-to-government” agreements, “commercial agreements, not necessarily”.
Asked about the port sale last week, Scott Morrison told reporters the investment regime had now been overhauled so “those circumstances wouldn’t be repeated”.
The government has been clear that it opposes the decision by the Andrews government to sign up to China’s belt and road initiative, and that agreement is one of the clear targets of the new foreign veto regime.
The Trump administration earlier this year opened the possibility of suspending some forms of information sharing with Australia if the Victorian deal resulted in projects that affected the safety of security networks.
On Sunday Albanese said Labor federally would not have signed up to the belt and road initiative, and he said there was “nothing remarkable at all about the idea that it’s the national government that controls our foreign policy”.
“There shouldn’t be agreements that are inconsistent with Australia’s national interest, or our foreign policy,” Albanese said.
Albanese noted the federal government had once sounded more supportive of the belt and road initiative. He said Labor wanted to examine “the 2017 agreement signed by [then trade minister] Steven Ciobo which talks about cooperation between Australia and China regarding BRI in third countries”.
In June, the trade minister Simon Birmingham signalled Australia could partner with China on infrastructure developments in other countries under the agreement developed by Ciobo.
Andrews did not hide his irritation with the Morrison government’s announcement last week, and Australia’s university sector has also pushed back against the initiative, concerned that collaborative research projects are being vilified.
As well as the foreign veto power, the government is considering separate calls from backbenchers to launch an inquiry into foreign interference in Australian universities, with Andrew Hastie, the chair of the security and intelligence committee, saying he is willing to oversee the investigation if asked.
But Universities Australia has declared that most of the country’s important research happens across international borders “and with Chinese researchers in some really important instances” including the development of the cervical cancer vaccine.
“Without research collaboration – remember we’re quite a small population – we are in really serious trouble,” said Catriona Jackson, the head of Universities Australia.
