Correct, an increase in short positions generally coincides with...

Correct, an increase in short positions generally coincides with a drop in share price due to their downward pressure; you can look at historical examples such as lithium miners (e.g. PLS, GXY) and A2M to name some.

Shortman had PNV's net short position at Jul 27 at 5.03% (roughly 33m shorts), fast forward a month to Aug 24 and we are at 6.02% (~39.7m short positions), the highest it has ever been was 6.6% on Aug 19th. You can see what effect that has had on the SP.

Short's right now are nearly twice as high as they were during the well-publicized shorting event (~3% back in January) that Regal was so outspoken about. Unfortunately this kind of behaviour will continue to persist, we are a much bigger and well-known company than we used to be, and being in the ASX200 attracts this kind of attention.