Sydney – The Australian-born first lady of East Timor, Kirsty Sword-Gusmao, Monday appealed to Canberra not to force her country beg for a "fair share" of the Timor Sea oil and gas reserves.

Melbourne-born Sword-Gusmao, the wife of East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao, said the fledgling nation needed access to the energy reserves to rebuild hospitals, schools and the economy.

"I certainly don't think it's dignified for East Timor to be forced into begging," Sword-Gusmao told a forum in Canberra on Monday.

Talks between the two countries have stalled over negotiations over a maritime boundary and the delay is threatening oil and gas projects in the region.

The boundary dispute centers on a demand from East Timor that the border be redrawn to half way between the two countries, which would give it a greater share of the oil and gas revenues.

Australia's conservative government has been accused of bullying the nation by claiming ownership of the oil-rich continental shelf two-thirds of the way across the Timor Sea under the terms of an agreement reached with Indonesia when it controlled East Timor.

Under an International Unitization Agreement agreed but not ratified by Dili, 80 percent of the Greater Sunrise project operated by Australia's Woodside falls within waters designated as Australian, leaving East Timor access to just 20 percent.

A second revenue sharing deal allows East Timor to take 90 percent of government revenue from the so-called Joint Petroleum Development Area, which includes only 20 percent of Sunrise, whose fields are considered the most lucrative in the area.

Talks scheduled for next month are in doubt after the Australian government threatened to suspend them when the Labor opposition said it would start negotiations from scratch if it won the coming election.

"We are so far aid dependent, and without access to the oil that we say is legally ours. We are in poverty and need to struggle to overcome this," Sword-Gusmao said.

"And in this fight against poverty and ignorance we also need Australia to play fair in resolving access to the resources of the Timor Sea that will be vital for rebuilding this new nation. The right to a maritime boundary is vital to the future of East Timor."