Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton is closely monitoring a Chinese company’s proposal to build a new city just kilometres from Australian territory.
Leaked documents have revealed a conceptual plan to build a 100 square kilometre city with a major seaport, industrial area and free-trade zone on Papua New Guinea’s south coast.
The “New Daru City” would be built within kilometres of Australian islands in the Torres Strait.
Another Chinese company plans to build a $200 million fishing park in the same impoverished province of PNG.
A spokesman for PNG Prime Minister James Marape said he was unaware of the project, but the country would not turn away foreign investment, so long as it complied with laws and benefited locals.
Australian security agencies have grown increasingly concerned about China’s interest in PNG, with the superpower intent on growing its strategic power and economic influence in the region.
Mr Dutton said he was very keen to discuss the proposal with the PNG government.
“We’ve got an incredibly close working relationship with prime minister Marape and the PNG government,” he told Nine on Friday.
“We will have a look at it. I think there are all sorts of sovereignty issues and there are local issues in terms of landowners and land rights that I think would provide a significant hurdle.
“So we will look at it closely, but Australia will always act in our best interests and we will seek to support our neighbours.”
The ambitious plans would need to secure approval from local landholders and multiple layers of government.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg cautioned against “jumping to conclusions” about the Chinese proposal.
“I’m not going to go into what our government knows about various matters,” he told reporters in Melbourne.
“Our relationship with Papua New Guinea is very strong, it is cooperative, it is multifaceted. And between prime minister Morrison and prime minister Marape, there is constant dialogue.”