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SBS and Seven pull Timor Sea ads

Timor Sea Justice Campaign Press Release - March 25, 2005

Channel 7 and SBS have announced that they will not be screening the latest television commercials about the Timor Sea dispute written and funded by Australian businessperson Ian Melrose.

The two advertisements were to be screened over the Easter Break to mark the anniversary of the Australian Government's withdrawal of recognition of the maritime boundary jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice.

The ads accuse the Australian Government of stealing $2 billion from East Timor and claim that "stealing from a third world country kills their children".

The networks have not yet supplied written statements outlining the reasons why they will not screen the ads, but have indicated that there were concerned about the content of the ads for young viewers.

But Ian Melrose dismisses that argument claiming, "The ads have already been approved by the appropriate bodies and were deemed suitable for free to air television, so that can't be the reason."

"What I want to know is, have the networks received any directives or suggestions from the Australian Government? What's changed since the last ads were screened?" asked Mr Melrose, who was motivated to run the advertising campaign after reading about the death of a 12 year old East Timorese girl from worm infestation. A 20 cent tablet could have helped prevent her death.

Tom Clarke from the Timor Sea Justice Campaign Melbourne, claims it can not be the figures that the networks object to as the $2 billion is a conservative figure based on publicly accessible financial reports published by Woodside Petroleum.

"The figures are accurate and stealing simply means taking something that is not yours, so I don't see what grounds the networks would have for not screening these ads." said Mr Clarke.

The $2 billion worth of royalties the Australian Government has taken, come from the Laminaria Corallina fields alone. These fields are outside of the Joint Petroleum Development Area, but are likely to belong to East Timor if maritime boundaries are set in accordance with current principles of International Law.

The Timor Sea Justice Campaign also backs Mr Melrose's emotive claim that "stealing from a third world nation kills children". Tom Clarke claims, "There is a direct link between the high number of preventable deaths in East Timor and the drastic lack of funds to establish a working health system, run de-worming programs, the provision of clean water and so on. The Australian Government is taking billions of dollars from the poorest nation in Asia, of course that's having a direct and sometimes fatal impact on East Timorese children."

Officials from SBS and Channel 7 were unavailable for comment today due to the Easter public holiday.

Mr Melrose will continue his advertising campaign to raise awareness of the Timor Sea dispute, saying his next focus will be the Australian Government's betrayal of the ANZAC spirit.

The advertisements can be viewed online at: http://www.timorseajustice.org/tvcs.htm
 
 

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