[5][6] He criticised a ban on foreign journalists entering Papua New Guinea to cover issues with the Australian-run Manus Regional Processing Centre, but welcomed the centre's reopening, suggesting that Australia should provide assistance with surveillance and border monitoring capabilities in exchange.
[9] On 4 October 2013, the National Court declared Mai's election to have been null and void after ruling in favour of a legal challenge from two losing candidates and previous governors, Simon Solo and John Tekwie, on the basis that there had been illegal practices during the election, including underage children voting, double voting and multiple voting.
[11] Mai was re-elected with an absolute majority of votes at the resulting August 2015 by-election.
[12] He has supported a free trade zone around the PNG-Indonesia border to provide economic benefits for the Vanimo area, argued that Papua New Guinea should set up more police border posts to protect sovereignty and deter illegal activities, and called for the development of the Wewak port to international standards.
[13][14][15] In December 2016, he signed a deal with two Chinese companies to establish two large industrial parks in West Sepik Province.