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Vets urge Howard to "finish the job" on INTERFET anniversary

Timor Sea Justice Campaign (Melbourne) Media Release - September 20, 2005

Six years ago today, Australian armed forces lead a multinational peacekeeping force (INTERFET) to East Timor to restore order and provide security for the transition to independence, but the Timor Sea Justice Campaign, today claimed the Howard Government is undoing the good work by taking gas and oil that belongs to the world's newest nation.

Chip Henriss-Anderssen, a former major in the Australian Army, who served in East Timor in 1999 and is now involved in the campaign to ensure East Timor receives what it's entitled to under International Law, said the Australian Government was betraying the spirit in which he served.

"On this day I remember the hopes of the people of East Timor. They were so grateful when we landed that morning. Now I'm left with a feeling of shame as I see our wealthy nation steal from the poorest nation in Asia," Mr Henriss-Anderssen said.

Rather then establish permanent maritime boundaries with East Timor in accordance with current principles of International Law, the Australian Government has pushed East Timor into 'temporary resource sharing agreements' to cover some of the contested oil and gas resources, while it continues to unilaterally deplete other contested fields.

Since 1999, the Australian Government has taken over $2 billion in contested oil royalties from the Laminaria Corallina fields that are located twice as close to East Timor than to Australia.

"As an Australian soldier it pains me to think of the people who looked to us for protection in those dark days in September six years ago. We were able to offer them protection against militias, but we are now told to sit by and watch as our Government swindles them out of their best hope for a brighter future; their oil and gas assets," Mr Henriss-Anderssen said.

The Timor Sea Justice Campaign is hoping the latest resource sharing deal covering the $40 billion Greater Sunrise field, which was expected to be signed this month, will be an improvement on the current situation, but insists that without permanent maritime boundaries drawn in accordance with International Law, East Timor will be short changed.

"The Australian Government can keep coming up with dodgy deals until the cows come home, but East Timor's struggle for independence will continue until it has defined and controls is land and sea borders. INTERFET was about helping our neighbours onto their feet, so it's about time that John Howard finished the job," Mr Henriss-Anderssen said.

For further information or comments, please contact: Dan Nicholson, Spokesperson, Timor Sea Justice Campaign, Melbourne.

Mobile: 0409 328 289 Email: dan@timorseajustice.org
 

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