Katherine Ziesing | Darwin
Opening the first day of ADM's Northern Australia Defence Summit, NT chief minister Adam Giles announced that his government is willing to spend $100 million on a common user facility ship lift if Defence and the wider federal government is willing to guarantee more work for the Darwin site.
The Marine Industry Park program would provide an estimated 4,500 jobs for the territory and provide another ship support option in the region.
The announcement comes in the wake of news earlier this month that the Port of Darwin will be operated by a Chinese company for the next 99 years.
Speaking in response to intense media coverage about the sale, Giles outlined the comprehensive consultation process that the NT government went through with the Department of Defence.
"Reports that Defence has issues with a Chinese company running Darwin port are false," Giles told the 200-strong audience. "There are no security concerns about the sale."
Other speakers including chief of Air Force Air Marshal Leo Davies, UNSW's professor Alan DuPont and retired Indonesian Air Marshal Eris Herryanto were all eloquent in setting the geostrategic circumstances that both the NT and wider Australian landscape face.
"Pax Americana is unravelling to a more turbulent world," professor DuPont said. "We're in an era of strategic competition again as states and players jockey for power. And while US is not in strategic decline but will have to cede power and influence to others."
Stay tuned for a more detailed post conference newsletter.