I saw the preview of this a few months ago and it really...

I saw the preview of this a few months ago and it really triggered me.
Note "HOPEFULLY" ... also tendering for the construction.
$1.8 million of our Commonwealth taxpayer dollars are going towards what?
How does $1.8 million get chewed up by planning, and hopefully might even get us towards the tendering stage.
So if the money runs out, they need to apply for more funding (more delays) to get to tender?
Enough to pay $180k to 10 full-time staff to work round the clock on this for 12 months and it still might not get done.
This is why Emefcy/Fluence went after China, and now SE Asia with MABR development, rather than the West.
In the time that it will take Norfolk Island to mess around with this and possibly do something, Hubei iTEST will have installed approximately 150 MABR plants. The average 400 m3/d iTEST Aspiral based plant with UF is probably in the range of $300k USD installed in Hubei province (being generous with construction costs on the iTEST side). Norfolk are wasting $1.8 million AUD on planning costs, albeit for a slightly more complex SUBRE plant with UF for reuse.

The positive is that BOOT is an option, it may help streamline the funding process if the upfront CAPEX is absorbed in a yearly fee, and may be more beneficial for Fluence to do it this way as a showcase. Not sure how the relationship with Aquatec Maxcon is going at the moment, as in 3 years they have not made any major inroads into the Australian market.