Yes, and Sha has enough readies to furnish HFB with his preferred expensive tipple.
Do we have a post code for the Garden Party HFB.
I would find great pleasure in locating a venue near to you, and booking a function room and financing a hot buffet lunch for upto 50 people. Not joking... My postcode is TF2...
You nailed the dilemma on tax revenues. They get 70% if processing in Darwin. Tomorrow..
But just 10% more if they spend 16/20b capex with a lead time of min 5 years.
I might not be the brightest spanner in the box, but if I was down to my last 16b, and the golden goose was undergoing life support, I know which direction I would go.!
It's basic arithmetic, the country consumes x billion pa. It receives an ever depleting sum from existing fields. They have amassed $16b!!in sovereign wealth fund.
Cost of integration construction $16-20b, time line 5-10yrs!
Or
Spend nothing of the SWF, and gain tax revenues within 1/2 years from the new licences. Not forgetting our own licence that is proven and ready for exploitation.
Take a close look at the political situation locally since independence. Proportional representation systems take longer for a,new voice/dyametric to the old opinions to take shape. And coalitions are poor at giving decisive policy.
Again look at how the, coalition dance, has moved Marxist revolutionary to the smaller end of the pie charts...The young are keen to get on.