Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says the lease of a major port was a mistake, flagging plans to bring it back into Australian hands.
The move is shaping as a fait accompli regardless of the May 3 election’s outcome.
Mr Dutton is in the Northern Territory, where the Port of Darwin has been leased to a China-linked company for the next nine decades.
He told reporters on Saturday the coalition would immediately move to “secure” the port if elected.
“To make sure that we can bring that national asset, that strategic 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,” he said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese phoned ABC Radio Darwin on Friday afternoon to flag a similar plan.
“We want it to be in Australian hands … we’re prepared to go down the road of taxpayer direct involvement,” he said.
The port has been a concern since it was leased to the Landbridge Group in late 2015 for more than $500 million.
Speculation about its future follows discussions in March that prompted Landbridge director Terry O’Connor to announce the port was not for sale.
Multiple reviews found insufficient reason to overturn the lease on national security grounds.
Blaming the NT government for leasing the port, Mr Dutton said the decision should never have been made and circumstances had changed.
“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,” he said on Saturday.
“But that is the past, and we need to deal with the strategic circumstances that we face at the moment.”
Mr Albanese argued on Friday that the federal government had created a financial incentive for the territory government to “flog off” the port.
“Peter Dutton will pretend that this had nothing to do with the LNP federally and will just blame the former Northern Territory government … and say that they’re going to now buy it back,” he said.
“Well, we’ve been in that process for some time.”
Mr Albanese is visiting flood zones in Queensland on Saturday to announce federal government disaster recovery allowances.
The allowances provide up to 13 weeks of income support for eligible workers and sole traders who have incurred a loss from the natural disaster.
The amount available depends on individual circumstances, with applications open from Tuesday afternoon.
Almost double the yearly average rainfall has been dumped on parts of regional Queensland.
Massive areas of land have been inundated and tens of thousands of livestock are either missing or dead because of the record-breaking rain.
Emergency disaster grants, personal hardship assistance payments and grants for small businesses and non-profits are also available.
Labor has matched the coalition’s pledge of $10 million for a radar in outback Queensland to supplement other weather warning systems, including satellites and flood gauges.
Emergency Management Minister Jenny McAllister said support included the deployment of heavy-lift helicopters, personal hardship payments and a fodder bank for impacted farmers.
A military aircraft has provided support, transporting more than 5000 litres of aviation fuel from Longreach to Windorah on Tuesday.
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