NSW Roads Minister Melinda Pavey has shut down speculation of any government shift on the controversial Port of Newcastle container cap after Deputy Premier John Barilaro told an economic forum that NSW farmers would “absolutely” be able to export goods from Newcastle.
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In a fiery exchange with Hunter Labor MPs and former Newcastle MP Jodi McKay in parliament on Tuesday, Ms Pavey refused to respond to challenges over the “port rort” and the “handcuffs this government put on the port”, and backed Mr Barilaro’s assessment of Newcastle as a potential agricultural export hub.
This is despite a secret condition in a 2013 privatisation deal negotiated by the Liberal Government requiring the Port of Newcastle to compensate Port Botany and Port Kembla if more than 30,000 containers are transported through the Hunter. The secret deal was revealed by the Newcastle Herald in 2016 after repeated government denials. The deal is being investigated by competition regulators.
Mr Barilaro received muted laughs at an economic forum when he said western NSW primary producers would “benefit from a container port of Newcastle” given controversy generated after the Herald revelations.
In NSW Parliament question time on Tuesday Newcastle MP Tim Crakanthorp asked Ms Pavey what action the government would be taking to “drop the anti-competitive arrangements that are making it economically impossible to establish a container terminal at Newcastle”?
Ms Pavey accused Labor MPs of being “completely ashamed” that Newcastle is “the most significant export terminal in the world” which “sustains and is the backbone of the economy of the Hunter and NSW”.
Port Stephens MP Kate Washington and Ms McKay challenged Ms Pavey who said the government wanted to increase the amount of container traffic through the terminal by finding new markets for agricultural products.
“The minister has been asked specifically about the port and the handcuffs this government put on the port,” said Ms Washington, who also called the government agreement a “port rort”.
Ms McKay was warned she would be ejected from the chamber after criticising Ms Pavey for refusing to answer questions on “anti-competitive agreements signed by this government”.
Ms Pavey said the “port transaction has created investment in the Hunter like it has never seen before”.
“The Port of Newcastle is the largest coal terminal in the world and despite this, we are interested in diversification, we are interested in creating new markets for this port and they are not precluded from being developed,” she said.
But despite backing development of “new markets and new opportunities”, Ms Pavey told parliament “any future decision of the Newcastle Port to diversify would need to be made with respect to commercial arrangements entered into by that operator”.
Mr Barilaro’s office did not respond to Fairfax Media questions about whether he was attempting to alter commercial restrictions on the port’s expansion.
Outside parliament Mr Crakanthorp said Mr Barilaro’s comments on the port were “embarrassing in the extreme” to a government that had “fought tooth and nail to defend their port rort”.
“The Government’s Deputy is even conceding that a container terminal should be built. From day one, it has been evident that this contract was flawed. The ironic thing is that if anyone within the NSW Government can put an end to the port rort it is the Deputy Premier.”
Mr Crakanthorp said the government needed to scrap the deal because it was limiting jobs and investment in the port.
