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The Australian chief of the Port of Darwinâs Chinese owner is warning the potential scrapping of its 99-year lease threatens to deter foreign investment, denouncing the treatment dished out to the company as the worst he has seen a multinational endure.
In the companyâs strongest response to a high-level review of the deal, Landbridge Group Australia managing director Mike Hughes lashed the sideline critics who âcarp about the leaseâ, arguing at no point had security officials formally raised any concerns over the firmâs operation of the port.
The Port of Darwinâs 99-year lease with Chinese company Landbridge has attracted criticism since 2015.Â
Devine shares jump on CIMIC s takeover bid smh.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from smh.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The vendors include shareholders of FDR Australia and various third parties with interests in the exploration properties (the Vendors ). As part of the Transaction FDR Australia is to be acquired outright by a new UK private company ( FDR UK ), in which Power Metal is to hold a 75% initial interest and the Vendors a 25% initial interest. The acquisition of FDR Australia will not be undertaken until the Ripon Hills Project has been successfully transferred into FDR Australia and a granted exploration licence has been received by FDR Australia in respect of the Wallal Project. Further announcements will be made by the Company as appropriate.
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In 2010 an Australian businessman, Peter Mason, was sitting in his Sydney office when the phone rang. He didnât know that he was about to have a conversation with a spy heâd never met. It was a story he would be telling for years to come.
Australiaâs then director-general of security, the formal title of ASIOâs chief, introduced himself. David Irvine proceeded to invite Mason to a one-on-one lunch. Mason is very well known in corporate Australia. After a career in investment banking, he chaired establishment institutions including AMP and David Jones, became a trustee at the Sydney Opera House Trust, and is on the board of Optusâs parent company, Singtel. He wasnât hard up for a lunch invitation. But heâd never had anything to do with ASIO. He suspected it was a prank call.
Upgrading Australia’s communications network meant our national security experts had to get to grips with tech titan Huawei’s ties to the Chinese government. A ban would infuriate Chinese leaders. The alternative was worse.