Below is Ed Husic's public statement: Link to statement.
The 1600+ pages of documents boil down to two main reasons provided at the end:
- Public interest considerations
- Concerns about the applicants’ cost estimates and their ability to secure the necessary capital for the proposed works
Clearly, Ed Husic was not convinced by Asset Energy’s response.
This comes in the context of the recent ACCC report (184-pages; chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/accc-gas-inquiry-interim-report-december-2024.pdf), the change from Madeleine King to Ed Husic after more than 9 months and the NSW government’s March 2023 legislation banning offshore drilling and mining (Link to legislation).
It will be interesting to see how a judge evaluates these reasons, the likelihood of NOPTA’s (re)approval, the broader political backstory involving Scott Morrison, and who knows what other documents might appear that shed more light on what was really going on.
(20min delay)