supreme court appeal 14 june 2011, page-3

Having had a couple of days to reflect on Tuesday's appeal hearing while waiting for a decision, I am quietly optimistic of a positive outcome.

Sitting in the cheap seats at the back of the court is a bit like sitting at one end of the MCG watching your full forward [barrister] kick at the goals with the goal umpire using his eyebrows instead of flags to indicate goals and points and you have to wait a couple of days to get the scores.

From my cheap seat watching the reactions of the opposition cheer squad [4 x police], I thought PPN's full forward was kicking quite a few goals with the opposition fumbling the ball on the backline a few times.

The PPN cheer squad consisted of only two shareholders with the conspicuous absence of any representatives from the PPN board. With so much at stake, the directors must have had far more important things to do than be present at the Supreme Court.

As we wait for a decision, PPN shareholders may recall that PPN shared the lease for the Royal Melbourne Hotel with the the Colonial Hotel people who eventually bought PPN's half share.

Well the Colonial Hotel [Minardi Pty Ltd] has also had its own liquor licence problems and has apparently appealed on the grounds that the inquiries proposed by the Applicant under sections 90 ad 95 of the Liquor Control Reform Act 1998 are an abuse of process. That matter is before the Court of Appeal and we await the outcome although I am not sure what "abuse of process means" or whether it is relevant to PPN's case.

Stay tuned!