it doesn't make any sense at all. Its almost a non issue on the...

it doesn't make any sense at all. Its almost a non issue on the face of it. A simple administrative decision on an extension to an existing permit to drill an exploration well 26kms out to sea, It should hardly cause a blip.

They obviously don't want to approve it otherwise they would have done it already and simply blamed scomo"s clusterf*ck . It would of moved on long ago.

Outside of the shareholder groups and some locals no-one has ever heard of pep11 and its definately not remotely a national issue.

The irony is that it if they did approve it they couldn't really grandstand because they aren't opening up a giant gas field or doing anything that will reap short term benefits. They are approving a simple exploration well. If they tried to claim they were solving the gas crisis by doing so they would look like prized idiots because its just an exploration well and completely untested. the opposition and media would laugh them out of town.

So for whatever reason, be it that factional interests mean they wont approve it or they are legitimately concerned about backlash in marginal seats and therefore are just not touching it, the question is are they specifically avoiding making a decision rather than just caught up in the usual government snail pace.

If they are just avoiding making a decision and passing it around then that's an issue because they cant just dodge their responsibility to do their job and make a decision.