THE tribunal that sets council rates and public transport fares has been assigned the job of working out how much the Port of Newcastle must pay to free itself from the container terminal restrictions imposed on it during privatisation.
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The appointment of the NSW Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) follows the passing in November of the Port of Newcastle (Extinguishment of Liability) Act 2022 which was introduced to state parliament by Lake Macquarie Independent MP Greg Piper.
The latest development in Newcastle's push for a container terminal will be formally announced today by Treasurer Matt Kean.
News of IPART's involvement has been welcomed by Mr Piper, who acknowledged the work of the Perrottet government in "moving quickly on this issue".
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He said IPART had six months to produce the valuation and he was confident it would do so "independently and unhindered".
"IPART is a good choice and is well equipped to determine what the Port of Newcastle would have paid for an unrestricted lease on the port," Mr Piper said.
"My Bill is now doing what it was intended to do for the Hunter Region - remove the Sydney monopoly on containers and provide a fair and equitable pathway for Port of Newcastle to compete on a level playing field.
"The regulations are finalised, an assessor has been appointed and, all going well, the Port of Newcastle will be free to pursue its plans later this year. I believe those plans will not just ensure the future of the port, but the future of our regional economy for many decades to come.
Nobody involved was prepared to suggest a likely amount for the compensation figure, but in November the Newcastle Herald reported a financially modelled figure of $733 million, with Port of Newcastle CEO Craig Carmody saying a top-up payment of $1 billion would make a terminal unviable.
Yesterday, Mr Carmody described IPART's appointment as "historic" and "momentous".
This announcement is momentous for the Port of Newcastle, the Hunter and Northern and Western NSW, which is why it has support from all sides of politics, Mr Carmody said yesterday.
At the port, we have never been shy in speaking about our need to diversify our trade in order to future-proof the Hunter and continue to drive jobs and investment in our region.
I am incredibly proud to be part of an announcement that helps turn the vision of a diversified Hunter economy into reality.
Mr Carmody said Newcastle was planning a three-stage terminal with a final cost of $2.4 billion and capacity of 2 million containers a year.
As well as Mr Piper and Mr Kean he thanked all involved including MPs Adam Marshall (Northern Tablelands) and Dave Layzell (Upper Hunter), along with NSW Farmers and its members.
Mr Kean said yesterday that the independent assessment of the reimbursement provisions had begun; provisions he said were "focused on getting a good outcome for taxpayers while giving Port of Newcastle more investment certainty" to build the terminal.
"Our ports are the State's gateway to the world, helping connect NSW farmers and energy producers with overseas markets to grow the economy," Mr Kean said.
Mr Kean said last week's decision by a full bench of the Federal Court to reject the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's appeal case against the Botany container terminal operator NSW Ports had "upheld the state's long-term port lease arrangements", but Newcastle wanted "further certainty around the cost of building a terminal"."
The original case was lost in June 2021.
"This determination will provide a pathway for Port of Newcastle to invest with confidence in a container terminal if it chooses to do so, helping to keep pace with a constantly changing global market and keeping our competitive advantage," Mr Kean said.
He said the original lease arrangements meant Newcastle reimbursing the state government if it exceeded the specified cap and its attached conditions.
NSW Ports moves about 2.8 million containers a year through Botany and remains opposed to a Newcastle container terminal.
IPART is a NSW government authority that acts the independent pricing regulator for water, public transport and local government as well as a licensing and compliance regulator for water, gas and electricity.
It monitors markets in energy, ethanol and biodiversity, and is the administrator and regulator of the NSW government's Energy Security Safeguard.
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Ian Kirkwood
Reporting journalist at the Newcastle Herald since 1987. Editorial writer, general reporter, industrial relations, industry and coal.
Reporting journalist at the Newcastle Herald since 1987. Editorial writer, general reporter, industrial relations, industry and coal.
