Take Back the Port of Darwin! By George Christensen MP

That’s my message to the Australian Government on the back of recommendations of the Pivot report that I tabled in Parliament this week. 

This Pivot report …   is the outcome of submissions many of my Nation First readers made to the China Inquiry, a campaign I ran last year asking Australians to put forward their views on the Australia-China relationship. As it happens, our close ‘friendship’ (I use the word loosely!) with a ruthless, totalitarian, communist regime is of great concern to a lot of ordinary Australians. These people made submissions to a parliamentary inquiry, and from there the Pivot report was formed.

The Pivot report – produced by a committee of which I am chair – hits the nail on the head in its recommendations. We need to pivot away from Communist China with haste. To summarise, the report says Australia must:

·     Scrutinise the 99-year Chinese lease over the Port of Darwin and, if (when!) it’s found not to be in the national interest, bring the port back under Australian ownership. It also says we should do the same with other ports and strategic infrastructure in the hands of foreigners.

·     Apply a clear and consistent national interest test to all future foreign investment (and if it’s not in the national interest, veto with abandon!)

·     Focus on trade diversification by expanding our trade with other countries other than Communist China (India, Vietnam and Indonesia all offer great opportunities for Australian businesses).

·     Boost manufacturing by establishing a national development bank, by refocusing and incentivising superannuation fund investment and by working with industry, unions and universities.

·     Get smarter at identifying national security and national interest risks, especially in sensitive and critical areas.

·     Force universities to disclose any foreign funding they receive, and block such funding if it’s not in the national interest (such as funding from Communist China for Confucius Institutes).

·     Make sure we always have sufficient fuel and medical supplies. 

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The People’s Republic of China offers a market of great scale – we sell in huge volumes and buy at low prices. But when China shunned our beef, barley, wine and coal exports (in the thick of a pandemic for which it was responsible!), it became clear we had to take a closer look at this trade ‘partnership’ (another word I use loosely!).

We need to ditch China and we can. We have other willing trading partners that can fill the gap, and we should be building those partnerships as fast as possible.

Investment from foreign state-owned entities or companies with links to foreign states are not in the national interest. It undermines our national security and should not be allowed. The fact that we don’t know who owns what in our country is a serious failing of government.

Foreign influence in our universities is not acceptable. Nor is our continuing manufacturing decline. Australians can and will develop and build world-class goods. We need to incentivise and co-operate to get manufacturing booming once again.

I want to extend my thanks to all who expressed their views through my China Inquiry campaign and through submissions to the parliamentary inquiry. Your contributions helped the committee to form clear and practical recommendations and it’s my great hope that these will quickly become legislation, so we can build a path away from China, toward greater sovereignty and a more secure future.