Sydney – Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer rejected appeals to settle a maritime boundary dispute with East Timor in international courts Thursday and lashed critics who accuse Canberra of bullying its impoverished neighbour.

Downer said "outsiders" were not needed to settle the boundary dispute, which will determine who controls billions of dollars in oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea.

"We can negotiate this thing with the East Timorese," Downer told reporters. "We don't need outsiders' help to do that, we don't need outside help to assist us to negotiate our maritime boundaries."

In March 2002, Australia withdrew from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea before the dispute reached the arbiter in what East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri described as "a hostile act".

Downer accused Greens senator Bob Brown, a staunch critic of Australia's stance who has just returned from a trip to the East Timor capital Dili, of disloyalty for suggesting Canberra submit to an international court.

"He should be on Australia's side," Downer said. "I hope all of our senators would back Australia; if he doesn't back Australia ... (if he) wants to back foreigners, well I don't think Australians would appreciate that."

Alkatiri has said Dili is unlikely to ratify an interim revenue-sharing deal on the Timor Sea oil and gas reserves because gives East Timor only 18 percent of revenues while handing Canberra 82 percent. East Timor regards the Timor Sea revenue as a lifeline that can end the nation's dependence on international aid.

Australia wants to keep the maritime border it agreed with Jakarta after Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, which would give it the lion's share of the reserves.

Dili argues that Jakarta only agreed to that deal in exchange for Canberra's recognition of its illegal annexation of East Timor and the border should lie at the mid-point between the two countries, in line with standard international practice.

Talks aimed at settling the border dispute are scheduled to wrap up in Dili Friday but a resolution appears unlikely, with East Timor accusing Australia of dragging its feet so it can make the most of the lucrative interim revenue-sharing arrangement.