"pertain to acreage purchases only." You tried to tell me that many many months ago as well. It is certainly not true, the guideline is referenced in the decision making by NOPTA and the Joint Authority for the January 2020 application.
In regards to the financial:
Source: adapted from
https://www.nopta.gov.au/_documents/guidelines/Offshore-Petroleum-Exploration-Permit-Guideline.pdf
Source: extract from
https://www.nopta.gov.au/_documents/fact-sheets/Financial-Resources-fact-sheet.pdf
Source: extract from
https://www.nopta.gov.au/_documents/fact-sheets/Financial-Resources-fact-sheet.pdf
Source: extract from
https://www.nopta.gov.au/_documents/fact-sheets/Financial-Resources-fact-sheet.pdfAs for "but are not applied retrospectively" well.. I have not gone into detail, but I would hazard a guess that all the amendments to the act Keith Pitt made, did not specifically change the financial assessments for each NOPTA application for example...
As we know from the court documents, these assessments were used on Advent on the 30/03/2020:
Source: extracts from "01b Attachment B - NOPTA's advice dated 29-04-2020.pdf" in 05-Oct-2022,
Tender Bundle, The Commonwealth Minister For Resources, As The Responsible Commonwealth Minister Of The Commonwealth-New South Wales Offshore Petroleum Joint Authority,
https://www.comcourts.gov.au/file/Federal/P/WAD106/2022/actionsWhich means even if there are slight changes to the financial assessment of each NOPTA application, its relatively almost the same.
Therefore, the point is, even for the COVID application, it is standard to assess the finances of the company before allowing them to continue past what was already agreed. Therefore, I think it makes sense they would be willing to accept a COVID-19 related force majeure (more likely if it was actually during 2020 [as opposed to COVID-19 impacting on: 13/02/2019-12/02/2020]), then also carry out all the other standard due diligence.
