Julian Lee and Cynthia Banham – An advertising campaign accusing the Prime Minister of stealing billions of dollars in oil and gas revenues from East Timor has been branded "deceptive and misleading" by the Government.
The Government has gone on the defensive as it attempts to resume stalled talks over disputed maritime boundaries in the Timor Sea.
The television ads, paid for by Ian Melrose, the owner of Australia's second-largest optical chain, claim Australia has "stolen" $2 billion in revenue from the Timorese.
The Melbourne businessman is running a campaign to embarrass John Howard over Australia's claim on the lucrative oil and gas fields.
However, Mr Melrose's ads have cost him the support of a coalition of groups, with Oxfam, World Vision and the Uniting Church moving to distance themselves from him.
Earlier this week Mr Melrose and the Timor Sea Justice Campaign said the groups were part of a "coalition" that supported his pledge to ambush Mr Howard at public events. Oxfam advocacy manager Marc Purcell said: "It's a matter of employing different methods of trying to achieve a just outcome for the Timorese. That involves talking to Government ministers ... it's unhelpful to be associated with a campaign targeting the Prime Minister."
A World Vision spokesman said: "An ad campaign such as this is not a strategy we would use to influence government. We don't endorse it." The Uniting Church said: "We welcome community action but we don't support any personal attacks."
The Government's reaction to Mr Melrose's ad was swift. One official involved in negotiations over East Timor's maritime boundary said the figure of $2 billion was incorrect. He said Australia had received $15 million at most from the joint petroleum area.
"That's where his campaign is deceptive and misleading," said the official, who asked not to be named. "He's including things East Timor has never had a right to."
A spokesman for Mr Melrose said: "If the Australian Government is so sure of its legal case, why doesn't it simply take it to the International Court of Justice and settle it once and for all?"
The Government has not received any response from East Timor to its invitation to attend a third round of talks in Australia in February or March.
down when the current UN mission leaves East Timor in May.
Timorese human rights lawyer Aderito de Jesus Soares said in Dili that the Truth and Friendship Commission could 'bypass and undermine' the UN proposal.
Bishop da Silva said the Timorese church would not actively petition the United Nations on the issue, "but our door is always open".
The 61-year-old cleric said he was puzzled by Gusmao's stand. "I don't understand," he said. "If you reconcile, does justice remain to be done, or is it not going to be done? When a person steals, and they're not tried, where are we? If there was a crime, there has to be justice. This is independent of Xanana's position. It's nothing new, it's always been the church's position on justice and peace... Guilty or not guilty, justice must be done", de Silva said.
He said he had not yet spoken personally to Gusmao on the issue, but would like clarification.
The bishop defended a younger generation of East Timorese who survived a 1991 massacre in which around 200 unarmed demonstrators were killed by Indonesian soldiers.
As the parish priest who said mass before the nationalist demonstration, he has always argued for perpetrators to be judged.
Under pressure from human rights groups and governments, including the US government, the Suharto dictatorship tried several officers.
Their nominal sentences did not satisfy world opinion and led to a US arms embargo still largely in force, but currently under review.