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Fresh calls for a fair go as East Timor's Prime Minister visits Australia
Timor Sea Justice Campaign News Release - June 16, 2005
Commenting ahead of the East Timorese Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri's visit to Melbourne today, Timor Sea Justice Campaign co-ordinator Tom Clarke labelled the Australian Government's proposal on how to split gas and oil in the Timor Sea as miserly, deceptive and short sighted.
"The Australian Government not only wants to take billions of dollars worth of royalties that would belong to East Timor if permanent maritime boundaries were established in accordance with International Law, but it is also denying East Timor the very basic right as a sovereign nation to define and control its own territory," Mr Clarke said.
While East Timorese officials say important details are still to be negotiated, the proposed deal over the Greater Sunrise field would see the government royalties split 50/50 on the condition that East Timor suspends its claims of sovereignty over the area for up to 50 years.
"By conveniently ignoring for the next 50 years that the gas and oil fields actually belong to East Timor, the Australian Government hopes to continue siphoning billions of dollars away from the poorest country in Asia," Mr Clarke said.
The Timor Sea Justice Campaign claim the negotiations, that produced the proposal, were neither fair nor balanced and have compared the situation to someone in the desert dying of thirst, being forced to bargain for a glass of water.
"The Australian Government has consistently bullied and stonewalled this entire process and while the mounting public pressure on the Government to give East Timor a fair go has seen improvements in the proposed percent split of Greater Sunrise, the proposed deal continues to fall embarrassingly short of reflecting East Timor's actual entitlements under current International Law," he said.
As a sovereign nation, East Timor is entitled to have permanent maritime boundaries, however, with the Australian Government refusing to follow current principles of International Law and establish a boundary halfway between the two countries, East Timor has been forced to consider another provisional resource sharing agreement.
The dispute over who owns the gas and oil reserves can not be settled by an independent umpire, because the Australian Government pre-emptively withdrew recognition of the maritime boundary jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, in 2002, two months before East Timor's independence.
For more information please contact:
Chip Henriss-Anderssen
Media Officer Timor Sea
Justice Campaign, Melbourne
Phone: 0437829825
Email: chip@timorseajustice.org
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