Timor Sea resources vital

Andre Monteiero at the East Timor stall.

by Kerri Carr

The fight for independence in East Timor has been replaced with an economic battle, Fretilin representative Andre Monteiero told Annual Conference.

Mr Monteiero explained East Timor was in dispute with Australia over oil and gas reserves in the sea bed between the two countries.

He said these reserves were vital for the economic future of East Timor, as there was lots of infrastructure destroyed by the Indonesian militia following the independence referendum in 1999.

Mr Monteiero said there were not enough schools in villages, no chairs and desks for some students and not enough teachers.

He said there are not enough hospitals and clinics in villages and sub-districts; little medicine and equipment in hospitals; not enough nurses and doctors, and need for specialist doctors and nurses.

Poor sanitation and rubbish collection, sanitation, rubbish collection, clean water, electricity, roads and housing all need attention.

Mr Monteiero said investment in East Timor was slow, so there was also a lack of employment.

"The only hope to address the problems that I have mentioned, and East Timor development, is the revenue of the mineral resources in the Timor Sea," Mr Monteiero said.

The Timor Sea Justice Campaign says the current border between Australia and East Timor follows the continental shelf, as negotiated with Indonesia in 1972. This gives Australia about 70 per cent of the seabed between the two countries. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, East Timor is entitled to a median line border between Australia and East Timor. Under current revenue sharing arrangements, Australia takes 10 per cent of the revenue from oil and gas in the Joint Petroleum Development Area [JPDA] and 100 per cent of the revenue outside the JPDA. If a maritime boundary was established in accordance with international law, East Timor would have sovereignty over the disputed area northwest of the median line, and so be entitled to 100 per cent of the oil and gas revenue.

"It is very important to settle the maritime boundary between East Timor and Australia. We believe that if the maritime boundary is right, according to the international law, then the royalty from the oil and gas revenue will be shared accordingly," Mr Monteiero said.

"At present, Australia is pumping out from Buffalo and Laminaria disputed area of equivalent revenue of $1.5 billion, in other words, $1 million a day, as we speak.

"It has been taken away from the disputed area by Australia, [with] none to East Timor.

"We would like to settle the dispute, because the expected revenue will be utilised to rebuild the country's infrastructure."

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005