Video - PH Interview on ABC, page-2

Credit where it is due - PH has played this well. In playing absolutely by the book he has given the government very few options.

What now for the government?

In respect of the judgement there are surely just two options.
They can appeal and risk a black eye to go with the bloody nose, or
They can reflect on elections being in the politically distant future and choose to get on with life. Pay court costs and compensation for the illegal suspension - a relatively modest 10m or so.
Pay money is probably easier than further humiliation.

But what then for the government?
Support...? Maybe they would respect the law and support MEL's legal rights to drill. Some big egos would have to back down for this to happen. Never say never, but these are very big egos. I suspect MEL will put this to the test sooner rather than later.

Suspend...? Good luck finding alternate grounds to suspend. They have already played the corruption card and lost. They played the consultation card and lost. There can't be too many more cards in their hand - PH has been too careful for that.

Cancel...? I suspect this could well be the path we're going down. Maybe they would try to rewrite the legislation. This would still be a de facto cancellation of MEL's rights under the current legislation and licences and any cancellation would trigger a very substantial claim for compensation. Another "see you in court" moment. I would happily support a CR to see MEL well funded to fight this fight, just as a matter of principle.

What would fair compensation look like? MEL has stated repeatedly that 120m of shareholders funds have been spent in good faith - it would be manifestly unfair for compensation to be less than this. It would only be marginally more fair if it was settled at 120m plus interest. The opening gambit has to be much higher - if MEL is to be deprived of its legal rights to exploit the gas it has discovered and the gas is to be locked away for all time (until some future government chooses to unlock it in some more gas deprived and desperate times) then MEL should be compensated at nothing less than the full commercial value of the undeveloped resource/reserves.

Happy to remain a holder and see how this all plays out