BY DAKOTA TAIT
Legislation to remove the restrictions, preventing the Port of Newcastle from becoming a container terminal, is likely to pass State Parliament on Tuesday evening.
Lake Macquarie MP Greg Piper has reached a breakthrough with the Government, who are expected to support the bill with new amendments.
The Treasurer will be able to appoint an independent expert to decide a fair market value for the Port's lease, if the container terminal penalties weren't included.
The Port's private operator will be able to ignore the compensation requirements, if it covers the difference between the $1.7 billion dollars it paid in 2014, and the new amount.
t's unclear what the top-up will amount to, but it could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
