So it is not the Corporations Act that is preventing the payment...

So it is not the Corporations Act that is preventing the payment of a franked dividend that is greater than the Retained Earnings A/c but the ATO will not allow franking of dividends that are not paid out of 'profits' and the 'profits' must be in the parent company that is paying the dividend.
The Retained Earnings A/c of the parent company at 31Mar17 was only $1.582mil whereas the consolidated Retained Earnings A/c was $34.411mil - no doubt all those subsidiary companies with a positive Retained Earnings A/c will have declared a dividend to the parent company for the full amount this month so the balance should be in excess of the $34.411mil and you can add profits since 31Mar17 and deduct the dividend of $9mil being paid on Monday.
Ok I've got no idea what the answer is now - I'll leave it to the accountants and the announcement in mid-August - but I think the above scenario is the process that is being implemented.