I think you are reading too much between the lines and looking...

I think you are reading too much between the lines and looking for smoke - not even fire.

Politicians are appointed to these ministerial roles, they are not elected.

He is not the minister responsible for the lithium policy, and I would assume if he was to not tow the party line and start making noise or creating barriers that prevent the accelerated outcomes the government desire, then I would expect he may not be long for that role.

There are existing, legally binding agreements in place with relation to the leases.

There are free trade agreements in place between the countries.

The government wants to attract international investment.

There is immediate demand for the product.

Trying to effectively take a majority ownership of pre-exisitng projects would result in legal processes that would take years of legal action from an in country and possibly even an international court perspective.

This would be WAY beyond the next election cycle in the country, and the government need significant wins in the near term to help support re-election.

The government has stated they do not have the experience to do this on their own, nor is it likely they would want to take all of that risk on by themselves, even if they could.

Buy, hold or sell, the only thing that we can expect is to be surprised (either positively or negatively) in the coming weeks and months.