Brigid Andersen – Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek says Labor wants to repair Australia's relationship with East Timor by renegotiating the maritime border between the two countries.
Ms Plibersek said the relationship between the two countries had deteriorated over the years. She told Lateline a Labor government would reopen talks on the maritime border and if they failed, they would submit to international arbitration.
"For many years now our relationship with East Timor has been affected by our failure to determine a sea boundary between our two nations," she said.
"We were great supporters of East Timorese independence and at that time there was a very close relationship between us and our new neighbour and that relationship has deteriorated to some extent because we can't resolve this outstanding issue."
The location of the maritime border in relation to a multi-billion-dollar oil and gas field in the Timor Sea is central to a spying scandal that has rocked relations between East Timor and Australia.
Australia has been accused of bugging East Timor's cabinet office during negotiations for a treaty that would divide the revenues from the $40 billion Greater Sunrise field.
Ms Plibersek refused to comment on the bugging scandal but she told Lateline it was in Australia's national interest to resolve the border issue. "For decades we haven't had a proper border with one of our nearest neighbours," she said.
"The ongoing uncertainty about where the border lies between the two nations is not in our national interest and it's also not good for us internationally, not good for our reputation."
East Timor has taken the spying case to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague. The country's former president, Xanana Gusmao, told Lateline he considered the bugging operation a criminal act.
"Australia would not allow it. Under the Security Act it will be a criminal act? No? For us we believe it should be considered like this," he said.
East Timor is seeking to have the treaty over the Greater Sunrise field set aside in the Permanent Court of Arbitration. Ms Plibersek said a final resolution on the maritime border would mean there would no longer be a need for such a treaty.
A history of treaties in the Timor Sea
- In 1989 Australia and Indonesia signed the Timor Gap Treaty when East Timor was still under Indonesian occupation.
- East Timor was left with no permanent maritime border and Indonesia and Australia got to share the wealth in what was known as the Timor Gap.
- In 2002 East Timor gained independence and the Timor Sea Treaty was signed, but no permanent maritime border was negotiated.
- East Timor has long argued the border should sit halfway between it and Australia, placing most of the Greater Sunrise oil and gas field in their territory.
- In 2004 East Timor started negotiating with Australia again about the border.
- In 2006 the CMATS treaty was signed, but no permanent border was set, and instead it ruled that revenue from the Greater Sunrise oil and gas field would be split evenly between the two countries.