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Let NZ mediate on Timor Sea: Democrats

Australian Associated Press - July 21, 2004

The Australian Democrats have backed a call for New Zealand to mediate in negotiations between East Timor and Australia over the Timor Sea boundary.

The mediation is expected to determine the seabed boundary, thereby dividing control of an estimated $30 billion in royalties from Timor Sea oil and gas deposits.

Australia has already won 82 per cent of the royalties from the Timor Sea's $8 billion Greater Sunrise field in a previous deal, but this is yet to be ratified by the East Timorese parliament.

Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Natasha Stott Despoja said East Timor's suggestion that NZ act as mediator in the boundary negotiations made sense.

"Given the very different positions Australia and East Timor have adopted over the Timor Sea boundary and the massive disparity in their power, it makes sense to introduce an independent mediator to the negotiation process," Senator Stott Despoja said.

"While New Zealand's involvement in this process would be a step forward, the ultimate mediator should really be the International Court of Justice."

Senator Stott Despoja said East Timor was currently barred from referring the dispute to the International Court of Justice because a few weeks before the nation gained independence, Australia secretly lodged documents in New York declaring it would no longer submit to the jurisdiction of the Court relating to maritime boundary disputes.

"At the moment, the Australian government is putting its greed ahead of what is right and just," Senator Stott Despoja said.

"Introducing a mediator or referring the matter to the court would dilute the extent to which Australia could use its power to bully East Timor.

"I suspect the Australian government will therefore be reluctant to agree to the involvement of New Zealand or any other independent mediator in the negotiation process.

"In the interests of fairness and the rule of law, Australia should resubmit to the jurisdiction of the court so that, if an agreement cannot be reached on the Timor Sea boundary, the matter could be referred to the court."