To decide to go against NOPTA advice, and act correctly, the...

To decide to go against NOPTA advice, and act correctly, the decision maker needs a robust, legally defendable, valid reason to decline the application. In my opinion, none of Scott Morrison's documented reasons would survive scrutiny in my opinion. If a new decision maker was to take a similar approach i.e. invent reasons to decline, to the detriment of their career, there isn't a mechanism to prevent that. But, Madeleine King is a trained lawyer, so I see the likelihood of her going rogue like Scott Morrison did as zero. My view is, she will follow due process, and act in accordance with the law. If she does, the most likely outcome is approval. To date, nobody has come up with a basis that she could rely upon to legally decline the application. We will find out in due course. The path of least resistance for a politician wanting to decline the application would be if NOPTA recommended decline. I believe that would have seen the matter closed out by now so I personally rule NOPTA recommending decline out. So, yes, I don't believe an Option B/decline scenario could occur. There is no evidence that anyone other than Madeleine King will be the decision maker but hypothetically that could change. But, given the Scott Morrison chapter, you would expect a public disclosure prior to any decision being made. I have asked NOPTA and Madeleine King's office for confirmation that she is the decision maker for PEP11. NOPTA responded that the question is outside their scope, so neither confirmed or denied. The Minister's office failed to respond. But, having communicated with them, I now have an email trail in the event something unsavoury occurs.