The Federal Labor Government is investigating whether there was any “impropriety” in the lease of the Darwin Port to a Chinese-owned company, Labor MP Luke Gosling says, warning that some in Darwin will be “a bit nervous about the outcome” of the review.

The previous Giles CLP government, through a committee led by former head public servant Jodie Ryan, leased the Darwin Port to Chinese-owned Landbridge in 2015 for 99 years, kicking off an international incident and continued unease from Territorians and other Australians about the deal.

The former Federal Coalition government ordered a Defence Department review of the deal to assess the national security implications, but that report has not been made public. It’s suspected there were no adverse findings relating to national security.

However, Mr Gosling said on Tuesday that the current government is now doing its own review that he pledged will explain how the deal was “allowed to happen”.

“And whether there was any impropriety back in 2015,” he told Mix 104.9.

“People who have been around Darwin for a while know that there probably are some people that are a bit nervous about the outcomes of this review and this investigation into the circumstances at the time.

“But Australians deserve to know, and more than that, Australians need to know that there’s been a proper process by which a decision was made about the ongoing status of that lease over our port.”

Mr Gosling said he could not provide a deadline for when the report was expected to be finished, but stated it would be made public.

“For me, and for so many others, it’s always been purely that the northern strategic Port of Darwin should be in Australian hands or those of our strategic partners,” he said.

“And that’s a no brainer. Most people, wherever I go in Australia, when I say that I’m the MP from Darwin, people say ‘mate, what the bloody hell happened with that port?’ And it’s a good question and it’s a question that Australians deserve answers to.”

Former chief minister Michael Gunner, who also sat on a parliamentary committee that recommended the lease of the port, said last year that the Giles government’s decision to lease it to Landbridge had caused the NT “reputational harm”.

Mr Gunner and his Labor colleagues have long blamed the port lease on the previous CLP government, however the decision to go with Landbridge – whose owner has ties to the Chinese Communist Party – was actually recommended by a committee of public servants and “experts”, including Ms Ryan when she was under-treasurer. Landbridge was chosen over Australian and European bidders.

The committee also consisted of then-director of major projects Ann Tan; Tourism NT chief executive Alastair Shields and then-head public servant Gary Barnes.

The panel was rounded out with “Captain John” Watkinson, who sat on the Darwin Port Corporation’s board of directors, and former Queensland premier Campbell Newman’s right-hand man Jon Grayson.

“The port never should have been leased,” Mr Gosling said yesterday. “And the Federal Government that I’m proud to be a part of will follow the advice of that review, follow those recommendations and take the appropriate action.”