Resources Minister Keith Pitt appears no closer to making a decision on an application to extend a controversial offshore gas exploration project between Sydney and Newcastle.
It is six months since the contentious Petroleum Exploration Permit 11 (PEP 11) licence expired.
Speaking in February, Mr Pitt said he "would prefer a decision was made soon" on an application by Dart Energy to extend the licence for two years.
Newcastle MP Sharon Claydon recently wrote to Mr Pitt requesting that he stop the threat of gas and oil rigs off the coastline
Mr Pitt told Ms Claydon that he was still considering the advice he had received on the matter.
He also noted the decision was a matter for the Joint Authority consisting of himself and NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro.
Mr Barilaro advised Mr Pitt in February that PEP-11 should not be renewed.
"Given Minister Pitt has been aware of Mr Barilaro's advice for eight months, why is it taking the Minister so long to make a decision?," Ms Claydon said.
"Is Minister Pitt simply stalling on this issue until after the federal election so as not to damage the chances of his fellow Liberal Party colleagues, whose own electorates are strongly opposed to PEP 11?"
"The Minister knows that if he accepts the extension of the application, his party colleagues will have to explain to their own electorates why they have backflipped on PEP 11."
Mr Pitt's Liberal colleagues Jason Falinski and Dave Sharma last month urged him to consign the PEP-11 project to the "trash can of history."
"It is a matter of when, not if, we are putting a stake through the heart of this unloved and unwanted licence that has hung like the sword of Damocles over the heads of our communities from Wollongong to Newcastle," the Sydney-based MPs wrote.
In addition to widespread community opposition, Prime Minister Scott Morrison earlier this year joined every federal MP between Newcastle and Sydney in opposing the project.
