The leaseholder of a major Australian port has lamented becoming “a political football”, reiterating the facility is not for sale.

On a day involving an unfortunate interaction with a different sort of footy on the campaign trail, both major parties flagged plans to bring Port Darwin back into Australian hands.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said on Saturday granting a 99-year lease of the facility to a China-linked company in 2015 was a mistake by the Northern Territory government.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has blamed the then-federal government which included Dutton in its cabinet.

Both have flagged a potential takeover – a move shaping as a fait accompli following the May 3 election.

However, leaseholder Landbridge has denied involvement in any discussions.

“As previously stated, the port is not for sale,” director Terry O’Connor said in a statement.

“Landbridge is disappointed that we are being used as a political football in the current election campaign.”

Dutton told reporters in the NT a coalition government would bring the port back into Australian ownership.

“Or into a model where we have greater assurance about the operator and the way in which the lease operates,” he said.

“We’ll negotiate in good faith and I believe within six months we can arrive at an outcome.”

Albanese phoned ABC Radio Darwin on Friday to flag similar plans, denying it was an election stunt.

He would not commit to when it would happen, promising more detail before the election and suggesting the plan had been in motion for some time.

“There’s nothing spontaneous about this,” he told reporters in western Queensland on Saturday.

“When the Port of Darwin was flogged off to a company with links to the Chinese government, we opposed that sale … Peter Dutton was in the cabinet that sold it.”

The port has been a concern since it was leased to Landbridge for more than $500 million.

However, multiple reviews have found insufficient reason to overturn the lease on national security grounds.

“A mistake was made many years ago in relation to the lease and the way in which that was undertaken by the then-territory government,” Dutton said.

“But that is the past and we need to deal with the strategic circumstances that we face at the moment.”

Elsewhere in Darwin, in scenes reminiscent of former leader Scott Morrison clumsily tackling a child on the 2022 campaign trail,  Dutton accidentally kicked a football into a camera operator, leaving him with a bloodied forehead.

In a 7NEWS video of the aftermath, Dutton bandages the camera operator’s head and says “we’ll get you a beer this afternoon”.

Peter Dutton injured a cameraman after accidentally kicking a football at his head. Photo: AAP

Albanese visited flood zones in Queensland, announcing disaster payments and a deal for exclusion fencing to protect livestock from wild dogs and pigs.

Asked about his presence in the safe Nationals seat of Maranoa, held by party leader David Littleproud, Albanese said campaigning exclusively in marginal seats alienated people from mainstream politics.

But he still found time for a pot-shot.

“Support from the government doesn’t look at the political map and we don’t get out the colour-coded spreadsheet to determine infrastructure funding,” he said.

It came after Senator Bridget McKenzie – the target of Mr Albanese’s sledge from her ministerial stint during the “sports rorts” scandal – announced plans to reinstate an 80:20 funding model for regional roads.

“The prime minister reduced federal funding commitments for regional road infrastructure to 50:50, to match the urban funding model,” the opposition regional development spokeswoman said in a statement on Saturday.

Albanese said the pre-election budget included investment in regional Queensland roads, although the headline announcement was upgrades to the Bruce Highway, which runs along the state’s coast.

Nuclear price scrutiny

The cost of the coalition’s nuclear energy plan is under the spotlight as Labor claims it will cost $5.7 billion a year in interest over the next decade.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s plan to build nuclear power stations has been a focus of the campaign for the May 3 federal election, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese routinely criticising the policy.

The coalition claims its nuclear plan is 44 per cent cheaper than the Albanese government’s plan to shift the grid to renewables, backed up with storage and gas.

But Labor has put a $600 billion price tag on the opposition’s plan to build seven nuclear reactors across five states on the sites of coal-fired power stations.

Labor has also released costings claiming the plan will require $5.7 billion a year due to interest payments on debt over the next decade, and $57 billion over the decade to 2035 to 2036.

The coalition’s plan was “nuclear insanity” that would blow out the Commonwealth’s budget, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said.

“The only way for Peter Dutton to pay for his nuclear reactors will be to cut Medicare,” he said.

“Australians would have been much worse off if he had his way on tax cuts, wages and energy rebates and they’ll be worse off still if he wins the next election.”

Experts have previously warned the nuclear debate is mired in cherry-picked figures and flawed comparisons.

Nuclear costs are highly uncertain, and the estimates cited by politicians on both sides are incomparable.

Labor claims the coalition’s plan will cost every taxpayer $86,339 by 2050, $42,857 to build and another $43,482 in interest.

“We know that when Peter Dutton cuts, you pay and when it comes to his $600 billion nuclear reactors, you’ll pay a lot,” Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said.

“Peter Dutton is telling Australians they have to foot the bill for his nuclear reactors with higher taxes and worse services, all while sending the budget into the red for generations.”

The prime minister spent Saturday touring flood zones in western Queensland, while Dutton was in the Northern Territory.

—AAP