Last Up-Dated: Feb 8 2001
The most recent collection is at: http://www.pcug.org.au/~wildwood/timorgap.htm
Homepage: http://www.pcug.org.au/~wildwood
This Webpage:
http://www.pcug.org.au/~wildwood/gapfeb.htm
Contents:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Jan 12 ETO: Timor Sea Oil and East
Timor-Australia relations
"The Australian Government's recent record shows that it has been putting
Timor Sea resources above any other consideration in its dealings with
neighbouring countries. However, Australia stands to benefit far more from
harmonious development within the region that will attract investment,
for which Australia is better prepared than its neighbours." ETO
top
French: Jan 12 OTO: Le pétrole
de la Mer de Timor et les relations Timor Oriental-Australie
"L’histoire récente de l’attitude des gouvernements australiens
révèle que le pétrole de la Mer de Timor a été
placé au-dessus de toute autre considération dans les relations
avec les pays voisins. L’Australie pourrait bénéficier davantage
d’un développement plus harmonieux dans la région, et essayer
d’attirer des investissements pour lesquels elle est mieux préparée
que ses voisins." OTO top
Dec
10 2000 ACFOA Position Paper: Negotiations of the Timor Gap Zone
of Cooperation
"... it is critical to ensure that East Timor will have access and
make good use of all its resources in order to enable the rehabilitation
of its infrastructure and become in the medium term more economically self-sufficient
and therefore less dependent on foreign aid. ... The East Timorese should
be given a larger share of the oil and gas resources than the one they
presently receive under the Timor Gap Treaty." ACFOA top
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Dec
10 2000 ACFOA Position Paper: Negotiations of the Timor Gap Zone
of Cooperation
"... it is critical to ensure that East Timor will have access and
make good use of all its resources in order to enable the rehabilitation
of its infrastructure and become in the medium term more economically self-sufficient
and therefore less dependent on foreign aid. ... The East Timorese should
be given a larger share of the oil and gas resources than the one they
presently receive under the Timor Gap Treaty." ACFOA top
Tetum: Nov 17 BLH: Saude, Oekusi,
Deskulpas, no Mina: Koneksaun Timor Lorosa’e ho Australia
"Tanba ne’e maka Lao Hamutuk husu
ba Governu Australianu atu halo kotu sira nia tuntutan ba direitu ruma
kona ba mina no gas natural iha Timor Gap. La haré ba meritus legais
nebe Timor Lorosa’e iha (ne’e be makas tebes), justisa basika haruka atu
Canberra rekonhece no husu deskulpa tan sira nia passadu nebe halo moe
tebes. Manifestasaun konkretu kona ba akto ida ne’e sei fo fatin ba Timor
Lorosa’e atu menikmati, tanpa sanksi, beneficius hotu nebe sei hetan husi
depositu mina no gas natural iha Timor Gap." BLH
top
Nov 17 LHB: Health,
Wealth, Apologies and Oil: The East Timor-Australia Connection
"La’o Hamutuk calls upon the Australian government
to cease its demand for any rights to the oil and natural gas in the Timor
Gap. ... basic justice requires that Canberra recognize and apologize for
its shameful past. A concrete manifestation of such an act would be to
allow East Timor to enjoy without sanction the full benefits of the oil
and natural gas deposits in the Timor Sea. Such a gesture would be good
for Australia’s political health." LHB top
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Dec 6 GLW: Australia's
oil and gas grab exposed
"As the people of East Timor struggle to rebuild their lives and their
nation, it remains the case that a major obstacle to achieving full independence
and self-determination is the big-business oriented foreign policy of the
Australian government."
Jon Land top
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NEW Feb 3 STL: Bishop Belo
Calls For Timor Gap Watch News from ETimor added Feb 5
"In order to ensure that the royalties [from Timor Gap] are used only
for the country [ETimor], Bishop Belo called for the setting up of an independent
body [Timor Gap Watch] that will monitor every liter of oil from the Timor
Gap and the way royalties are generated from it. Also the manner in which
the royalties are spent will be closely monitored." STL top
NEW Jan 30 STL: 2005, Timor
Lorosae to be a rich country News from ETimor added Feb
5
"With that formula [90:10], Galbraith stressed, East Timors present
royalties of USD3 million a year will increase to USD300 million a year
within a period of between five to 10 years. If that calculation is accurate,
STL estimates, the whole of East Timors reconstruction can be paid for
without any outside help from donors." STL top
NEW Jan 30 STL: Timor
Gap Further Negotiations: Dont be Hinged to 90:10 News
from ETimor added Feb 5
"In further negotiations between East Timor and Australia, the party
representing East Timor must not be hinged to the 90:10 formula. Instead,
they should be brave enough to renegotiate the whole Timor Gap deal." Francisco
Guterres, Dean UNATILs Faculty of Socio-Politics top
Jan 26 Financial Times: East Timor
demands oil money
"They [Australia] should say to East Timor, here's the oil, it's yours,
take it," Jose Ramos Horta, East Timor foreign minister and Nobel peace
laureate top
Jan 17 IPS: Reconstruction an
uphill climb
"UNTAET figures say that oilfields around East Timor could bring in
$100 to $200 million a year in revenues. There are some "hundreds of millions
of barrels equivalent of oil and gas already being exploited" in the Timor
Gap, according to ETTA. For a country with a budget of less than $ 80 million
a year, that means a whole lot." Johanna Son top
Jan 15 SMH: Oil is more important
to us than to Australia, says Gusmao
"To have a fair treaty, Australia has to consider that we have our
perception of the problem, our rights in this issue. ... We will respect
the rights and interests of Australia, but Australia has to respect our
rights and our interests there. ... It is more important to us than to
Australia - the new terms of the treaty. ... It is preferable that we get
it [oil revenue] rather than it goes to Canberra and then comes to us as
aid." Xanana Gusmao, President, CNRT
top
Jan 5 AU: Talks stall on Timor
Gap oil profits
"So far it has offered about 60 per cent of revenue, which could total
$US100 million ($180 million) a year. East Timor, represented by the UN
Transitional Authority in East Timor, is arguing strongly for a 90 per
cent stake in revenue, or alternatively for the boundary between the two
countries to be redrawn at the mid-point between their coastlines." Robert
Garran top
Dec 2 Econ:
Timor's troubled waters
"Australia is in two minds. The conservative government in Canberra,
led by John Howard, argues against a new treaty that would leave Australia
with only a fraction of the mineral wealth it had before. But the government
is also wary of appearing to bully a helpless new nation. Public opinion
in Australia is highly sympathetic towards the East Timorese, whose only
other economic resource is fish. Australia already has oil reserves four
times the size of those in the Timor Gap." The Economist top
Nov 29 IPS: Oil & Good Relations
Don't Mix
"The view of East Timor, which was shared by UNTAET, was that the Australian-Indonesian
treaty was illegal because Indonesia didn't have the authority to make
any decisions," Peter Galbraith, head of UNTAET negotiating team
top
Nov 28 CAA - Oxfam in Australia:
The Timor Gap Treaty: Latest News
"The real problem for the Australian government lies in the wider consequences
of a redrawn boundary in the Timor Gap. ... Indonesia might well seek to
renegotiate the entire maritime boundary between Australia and Indonesia,
using the renegotiated boundary between East Timor and Australia as a precedent.
From the Australian point of view, this would endanger a much wider area
of potential oil or gas reserves, of which the Timor Gap is only the centrepiece."
CAA Update top
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BACK DOOR supports
human rights accountability, return of refugees, strengthening
of indigenous culture,
East Timorese rights to Timor Gap oil and gas resources and
revenue, participatory
democratic self-determination for the East Timorese people
and people-centred
grassroots power-devolving reconstruction of East Timor.
BACK DOOR gives priority
to:
* the Perspectives
of grassroots East Timorese community organisations and networks;
* the Opinions of
East Timorese people, especially those who identify their context
as silencing and marginalising;
* News affecting
East Timorese communities directly.
Comments and suggestions to BACK DOOR: wildwood@pcug.org.au top
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access may request that individual BACK DOOR Website
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to them in full by writing to BACK DOOR's email address:
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top
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