Media Release

Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter’s rage at the Federal Government over the Port of Darwin sale continues unabated, following newspaper reports today of the Government’s failure to raise the sale with United States officials, apparently leaving the latter ‘stunned’.

A former United States Secretary of State is reported to have said the US was left stunned after Australia ‘blindsided’ them on its decision to allow a Chinese company with alleged links to the People’s Liberation Army to lease the Port of Darwin.

Mr Katter’s opposition to the Port of Darwin sale – a 99 year lease to Chinese owned Landbridge Corporation – has been veracious in recent weeks and resulted in over 370,000 views on his Facebook page by Australians also concerned about the economic and security implications of the sale.

“The Minister for Northern Australia, a Melbourne lawyer, laughed at my question in the House over the sale of the Port of Darwin to a Chinese company,” Mr Katter said today.

“But the Australian people don’t think the sale is funny and it appears neither to the Americans.

“Events have played out almost exactly as I predicted – we knew the Americans would not be pleased when they found out the only port in the Northern half of Australia was being sold to a foreign corporation.

“Every time we go to war we rely on the United States because we have no real armed forces of our own and only 50,000 silly little foreign rifles to defend our country with.”

Mr Katter continued to call out the Government’s cosy relationship with foreign owned corporations, as demonstrated by last Monday’s front page of the Financial Review picturing the Ministers for Trade and Northern Australia with heads of foreign owned Landbridge Corporation and JBS Swift.

“Andrew Robb skites about foreign investment in Australia – well he got $600 million from his good friends the Chinese owned Landbridge Corporation for the sale of the Port of Darwin.

“But what he’s really got himself is a monopoly where Landbridge is the toll-keeper and can charge whatever he likes.

“Not one single job is created and it stifles development in all of Northern Australia, because people become scared of investment knowing there is a monopoly over the Port.

“Is this good for Australia? Blind Freddie could see it’s not!

“Yet the Trade Minister thinks the Australian people are so dumb that they believe him when he says that foreign investment is a good thing.

“But I’ll tell you the dictionary meaning of foreign investment. It’s selling your country, its jobs, its people and its resources – so some foreign corporation can own and benefit to the exclusion of Australians,” Mr Katter said.

Attached photo is of Mr Katter with last Monday’s front page of the Financial Review, demonstrating the Government’s cosy relationship with foreign owned corporations – picturing heads of Landbridge and JBS Swift with the Ministers for Trade and Northern Australia.