There's some context about the gas field at the centre of the protest on Wikipedia here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarborough_gas_field

I'd be curious what the price paid by the energy company to obtain 75% of the retention lease was, and how that would compare to putting the same funding into renewable energy generation (to determine the relative return-on-investment).

ARENA[1] puts the levelized cost of energy for solar at approximately $100 per MWh (AUD, I think), given a discount rate somewhere around 8-9%.

[1] - https://arena.gov.au/assets/2018/12/large-scale-solar-progra...

Tangential : most municipalities in NL have outlawed 'chalking' on public road / sidewalks etc.

With enough rules, there is always one to get you.