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The Forum > Article Comments > Activism, aid and sovereign borders > Comments

Activism, aid and sovereign borders : Comments

By Ann Wigglesworth, published 24/3/2016

East Timor claims it has lost some US$5 billion (nearly $6.6 billion) in royalties and tax revenue in the Timor Sea since independence, enough to fund its entire budget for three years.

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The fact that the Australian government is always so gutless in the face of 'world opinion' but is sticking to its guns in the face of Timorese whining indicates that they are in a strong position, and it's stiff cheese for Timor. Anti-Australian activists and academics who align themselves with Timor against their own country are a disgraceful people who do not deserve Australian citizenship.
Posted by ttbn, Thursday, 24 March 2016 9:39:49 AM
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Look, our Australian borders are not new but have existed for decades,(centuries even) and only the discovery of oil and gas inside that part that is Australian,[the Australian continental shelf,] has caused this controversy!

That said, I'm sure there can be an agreeable sharing of this bounty by friends, without altering traditional borders, least we create a precedent for a resource hungry china to emulate!

Incidently there was an inherently fair, signed and sealed agreement on the table that was worth forsaken billions to the East Timorese!

They were the ones who rejected and tore it up, and on the spurious and unproven grounds that some of our officials were, it would seem, eavesdropping on private conversations?

Allegedly, there were bugs found? By whom, and why is it assumed that some of our operatives planted them?

Years can go by as the Timorese grow thin with essential development stalled!

Moreover international courts and their rulings are routinely ignored! Australians died in hundreds of thousands to literally prevent, centuries old traditional maps being redrawn, and that ain't going to happen, regardless of the admonition of a recently formatted international court! Or the feckless advice of frothing fomenting foreigners!

Criminal bail jumper, Assange should have considered where his loyalties lay before his un authenticated, reveal all vexatious mischief.

And but for that and that alone, billions could have already flowed into East Timorese Government coffers!

International court rulings? Bah humbug! Just look at the whaling taking place in the allegedly protected Southern ocean!
Rhrosty.
Posted by Rhrosty, Thursday, 24 March 2016 10:11:18 AM
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Everything was fine until the subjugated realised they were being subjugated and didn't like it. Great post!
Posted by LJB, Thursday, 24 March 2016 3:46:46 PM
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Well, the CMATS agreement of 2007, between East Timor and Australia, ( which was signed off by ET), gave Timorese a 50% share of revenue, valued at the well head.
The agreement removes either party from further negoations on boundrys until 2057.
While Timor wishes now to do so, under the CMATS agreement, Australia has no obligation to do so.
It is clear that Timor wishes now to deal Australia out of oil royalties completely, by shifting the boundary, claiming all the royalty revenue for itself.
Timor susceded any rights to re-negotiating boundaries, when signing the CMATS treaty.
Posted by diver dan, Friday, 25 March 2016 12:57:19 PM
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Is the relative wealth of each country relevant for these type of negotiations? Theoretically I would think not, as international law should apply equally. However many articles such as this seem to argue that the fact that because East Timor is poor, and Australia is rich, that this should somehow be taken into consideration. On the other hand, practically the opposite is probably true, as rich/powerful countries are going to have the upper hand with disputes over resources or territories (just look at China in the South China Sea).

I assume that spying during negotiations is common. Just look at wikileaks and how the US gathered any type of intel possible, or how China stole the building plans for ASIO. I don't blame the US or China for spying on us, this is just how the world works, rather I blame our own counter-intel for not preventing it. If the East Timorese were not spying on the negotiations, that is due to their own naivety or incompetence. After all, the role of our intel agencies is to "protect and promote our vital interests". I think our territorial boundaries and resources would be within this scope.

However, I'm not an expert in maritime law/territorial dispute resolution, so I would be interested in understanding what the likely long-term outcomes of this dispute could be. It seems from diver's comment above that we have no obligation to renegotiate, I wonder how well this would stand up to pressure in international courts?
Posted by Stezza, Friday, 25 March 2016 11:48:07 PM
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Botswana has some of the richest diamond deposits in the world, and they have a contract with De Beers to mine the diamonds and share the profits 50/50. Here the territorial rights are not in dispute and the contract keeps on getting renewed. The premise is that 50% of a lot of money is better than 100% of far less.

The people that developed the oil and gas field have invested $bns based on a contract that provides the security for their investment. The East Timorese have done nothing but sit back and take the profit, and not to kill the golden goose.
Posted by Shadow Minister, Saturday, 26 March 2016 8:04:32 AM
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