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By Kirsty Needham
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday his government was working on a plan for Australian superannuation firms to buy the strategically located Darwin port from its Chinese owner on national interest grounds.
Then U.S. President Barack Obama criticised the sale of the commercial port on a 99-year lease to Chinese company Landbridge in 2015. Around 2,000 U.S. Marines exercise for six months of the year in the northern city.
"We want it to be in Australian hands," Albanese said in a radio interview on ABC Darwin on Friday evening.
"We prefer that it be through superannuation funds or some other vehicle that doesn't mean direct taxpayers, but we're prepared to go down the road of taxpayer direct involvement as well," he said.
Amid an election campaign, Albanese said his rival, Liberal leader Peter Dutton, was expected to announce on Saturday his party would buy back the port if elected.
Albanese said his government had been working on a plan for the port to be sold to "Australian hands" for some time, including speaking to potential buyers.
"If it reaches a point where the Commonwealth needs to directly intervene, then we'd be prepared to do that," he said.
Australia is building up its northern military bases, which will host U.S. bombers and fighter jets on a rotational basis, as it increases defence cooperation with the United States.
"We live in an uncertain world at the moment, the idea that you would have the major port in northern Australia owned by any foreign interest is not in Australia's national interest," Albanese said.
Landbridge said there had been no talks on the port.
"The port is not for sale," Terry O'Connor, Landbridge's non-executive director in Australia, said in an emailed statement on Friday. "Landbridge and Darwin Port have not been involved in any discussions with the Federal Government concerning our lease arrangements."
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham)
