2012-2016: Protesting the CMATS Treaty to compel boundary negotiations

Click on either map to see it larger. The one above shows Timor-Leste's maritime rights, while the one below shows the CMATS compromise on resource sharing.

Background

The CMATS treaty was signed by Foreign Ministers Alexander Downer and Jose Ramos-Horta in Sydney on 12 January 2006, with Prime Ministers John Howard and Mari Alkatiri looking on, as shown in the photo at left. In 2006, La'o Hamutuk published an extensive analysis of the treaty and its history (also Bahasa Indonesia), which was extended in 2007. In 2009 we issued a two-page briefing paper Timor Sea Maritime Boundary: Still not settled! (also Tetum).

[During 2013, Timor-Leste's government asked that CMATS be invalidated because Australia had bugged Timor-Leste's Prime Minister's meeting room during the negotiations; see below for more details.]

Timor-Leste ratified both CMATS and the International Unitisation Agreement for the Sunrise and Troubadour Fields (IUA) separately on 20 February 2007, publishing the Parliamentary Resolutions on 8 March in the Official Gazette (Portuguese).

On 7 February 2007, the Australian government tabled the treaty in its Parliament, and the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties began an inquiry. Submissions were invited before 16 March 2007. See below. Although CMATS has already entered into force, the JSCOT continued its inquiry and published a report in June 2007.

On 22 February 2007, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer sent a letter to the Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Treaties invoking the "national interest exemption" to enable the treaty to enter into force without a Parliamentary waiting period. The next day, he announced that it had entered into force.

The CMATS package, the product of eight years of negotiation, had advantages and disadvantages for both countries. In summary, Timor-Leste increased its share of upstream revenues from 18% to 50% in return for accepting Australian sovereignty over areas east and west of the JPDA, ratifying the IUA, and agreeing not to raise the maritime boundary question for 50 years. At the time, La'o Hamutuk felt that the balance was not in Timor-Leste's favor. We continue to believe that Timor-Leste has the right to all maritime and seabed resources in the Exclusive Economic Zone shown in yellow on the map at left. (See below for additional analysis and commentary.)

CMATS treaty texts and attachments

Web-readable Treaty text with links and maps (Printable PDF) (Portuguese)

2012

Although signatories and oil companies had hoped that CMATS and the IUA would open the way for Greater Sunrise to be exploited, the basic development plan for the project was still not settled by late 2012, with Timor-Leste holding out for a pipeline to an LNG plant in Beaçu on Timor-Leste's south coast, and the Sunrise Joint Venture (led by Woodside, with Shell, ConocoPhillips and Osaka Gas) preferring a mid-sea floating LNG plant.

Article 12.2(a) of CMATS provides that "if a development plan for the Unit Area has not been approved ... within six years after the date of entry into force of this Treaty [that is, 23 February 2013] ... either Party may notify the other Party in writing that it wishes to terminate this Treaty, in which case the Treaty [except for certain clauses] shall cease to be in force three calendar months after such notice is given." As the date nears, discussion is growing on the likelihood and consequences of such termination, and La'o Hamutuk will continue to update our page on Greater Sunrise (also Tetum) with current developments.

On 27 December 2012, Timor-Leste officially ratified (Portuguese) the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, (also Port.) and on 8 January 2013, this country formally became the 165th country to accede to UNCLOS. On the same day, Timor-Leste also became a party to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which it had ratified in 2004.

2013

In late January 2013, Timor-Leste officials signaled that they are likely to invoke the CMATS termination option, as reported by the headlines at left from local newspapers on 28 January. Petroleum Minister Alfredo Pires clarified his views a few days later, indicating that either Australia or Timor-Leste could withdraw from CMATS after 23 February, but as far as he knows, neither country has yet decided to do so.

On 7 February, Australian Senators asked Foreign Minister Bob Carr whether Australia intended to give notice of CMATS termination and if Australia was prepared to negotiate maritime boundaries with Timor-Leste. He responded "Timor-Leste and Australia freely entered into CMATS in 2007. Australia will honour the treaty. We expect Timor-Leste to do the same." We do not understand the Minister's comment, as invoking CMATS article 12.2 on termination would not dishonour the treaty any more than Australia did when it invoked its legal (if not moral) right to withdraw from UNCLOS and ICJ boundary dispute resolution processes in March 2002.

On 11 February, La'o Hamutuk published an article in local newspapers on the Implications for Timor-Leste of Terminating CMATS, and we did an interview with Radio Australia on 13 February. Many media reports on this issue on both sides of the Timor Sea are inaccurate or incomplete, so we gave a briefing for local journalists on 21 February and will organize a public meeting on the subject soon. Among the issues which seem hard to understand are:

There are no boundaries or borders in the Timor Sea between Australia and Timor-Leste to redraw. During the 12 years of Timor-Leste's sovereignty, Australia has never agreed to define a maritime boundary. The three agreements signed so far are about managing petroleum development and revenues. Many people in Timor-Leste and elsewhere feel that this country’s struggle for independence is incomplete until its actual borders (which involve many more issues than oil and gas) are defined. In effect, Australia continues to occupy maritime territory which would be part of Timor-Leste under a fair, legal boundary determination – prolonging illegal territorial control taken during Indonesia’s illegal occupation of Timor-Leste’s land.
The CMATS clause allowing unilateral termination becomes available if no Sunrise development plan has been formally approved by Australian and Timor-Leste regulators by 23 February 2013. A development plan is a detailed engineering and commercial analysis, much more complex than just agreeing on the basic concept of where the gas should be liquefied.
There is a complex linkage among the Timor Sea Treaty (TST, signed in 2002, ratified in 2003), the Sunrise International Unitization Agreement (IUA, signed in 2003, ratified in 2007) and the CMATS Treaty (signed in 2006, ratified in 2007). In brief, Timor-Leste needed the TST in 2002 so that Bayu-Undan could go ahead, but Australia refused to ratify the TST until Timor-Leste signed the IUA in 2003 – which Senator Bob Brown termed “blackmail.” Timor-Leste then declined to ratify the IUA, which it had signed under duress. In the CMATS compromise four years later, Timor-Leste ratified the IUA and acquiesced with a gag rule on boundary discussions in return for 50% of Sunrise upstream revenues.
The Greater Sunrise contracts between Woodside (and its joint venture partners) and the governments of Timor-Leste and Australia were signed in 2003 (replacing contracts with Australia and Indonesia during the illegal Indonesian occupation). The CMATS Treaty was signed in 2006 and came into force on 23 February 2007. Its termination would not affect contracts signed five years earlier. Those contracts are unfortunately secret, but we understand that they will be in force until at least 2037, unless the four companies and two governments agree to amend them. Although CMATS termination could be a consideration in analyzing the project's risks and future prospects, Article 27.3 of the IUA says that the contractual terms for the companies "shall continue under terms equivalent to those in place under [the IUA]" even if a permanent maritime boundary is decided.
If Timor-Leste or Australia decides to exercise its right under CMATS Article 12 to terminate the treaty at any time after February 23, processes to establish a maritime boundary could resume. The CMATS treaty will automatically would come back into force (restoring the 50-50 Sunrise revenue sharing) if and when Sunrise production begins in the future. It's unclear how termination of CMATS would affect the Timor Sea Treaty
Under international treaty law, two signers to a bilateral treaty can always decide to cancel or modify the treaty. In other words, if Australia had been willing to discuss maritime boundaries at any time since 2006, both governments would have agreed to revoke the CMATS gag rule. Although the TST and IUA have specific articles saying that they "may be amended or terminated at any time by written agreement between Timor-Leste and Australia,” these are unnecessary, as this principle applies to all agreements between governments, as spelled out in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.

We hope that Australia is ready to deal fairly with this neighbor, without imposing a gag rule to bar discussion of particular topics. And we hope that Australia is committed to with the rule of law – allowing courts or arbitration to settle the boundary when inherently unbalanced negotiations (due to the relative size, wealth, power and experience of the parties) are unable to. Law exists to protect the weak from the strong and to ensure the everyone’s basic rights are respected. Do some of the “Rule of Law” trainers and advisors AusAID pays to work in Dili need to build capacity in Canberra?

Australia's Natural Resources Minister Martin Ferguson visited Timor-Leste in February 2013; he was replaced by former Woodside executive Gary Gray in a cabinet reshuffle the following month. A few months later, Labor lost the election and a new government came to power in Australia.

Australian Minister of Resources and Energy Martin Ferguson visited Dili on 21-22 February, meeting with Timor-Leste Minister for Petroleum and Mineral Resources Alfredo Pires and others. The visit, as well as the pending possibility of terminating CMATS, was the occasion for an usually large amount of misleading and uninformed coverage in the Australian and Timorese media -- for example, Timor-Leste removes Australian company from gas project, East Timor Risks All in Oil Dispute, Woodside gas deal could redraw Australia-East Timor borders.

After their meeting, both ministers declined to give specifics in public, although Alfredo Pires said that Timor-Leste is still deciding whether to give notice of CMATS termination. He explained that the Foreign Ministries of the two nations would be the appropriate participants in such discussions, as the CMATS Treaty was signed in 2006 by Foreign Ministers Jose Ramos-Horta and Alexander Downer. Pires also said Timor-Leste was concerned about the long duration of the Treaty, and was considering various options, while Ferguson said that discussions would continue and Australia continues to want to work with Timor-Leste and the petroleum industry to advance Timor-Leste's development.

Also on 21 February, La'o Hamutuk met with local journalists to try to improve CMATS media coverage. Download the presentation in English or Tetum, or as a PDF (English or Tetum). Feel free to reprint any graphic, provided you ask permission first and credit La'o Hamutuk. We can provide higher resolution files for most of them.

The Timor-Leste Government remains committed to honor its contracts with the Sunrise Joint Venture, which will be in effect for at least 13 years more, and which they see as applying to upstream activities, leaving pipelines and downstream activities open for discussion. The Government is also committed to respect all treaties it has ratified, including the IUA and Timor Sea Treaty, and can always raise any concerns with the Australian government. Dili is discussing CMATS issues with Canberra, but has not announced formal notice of termination, as La'o Hamutuk related to an Australia radio audience. A few days later, Timor-Leste's Government issued a press release confirming the status quo.

On 28 February, The Australian newspaper published an opinion piece by Tom Clarke, an organizer with the Timor-Sea Justice Campaign in 2005, entitled Australia holding back East Timor. Clarke concluded "The only thing standing between East Timor and what it is legally entitled to is the Australian government. Australia could and should put an end to decades of hard-nosed greed and offer to negotiate in good faith with East Timor. Permanent maritime boundaries will provide more economic certainty for both countries and for the companies seeking to exploit the oil and gas resources. But, more than this, setting permanent boundaries in accordance with international law is the right thing to do. It would also bring some closure to the Timorese people's long and determined struggle to become an independent and sovereign nation complete with maritime boundaries."

The lead editorial in the March 2013 Petroleum Economist magazine, entitled "Going for Broke," discusses the failure of Timor-Leste's oil revenues to improve the lives of our people. The publication urges Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão to "be pragmatic [about the Tasi Mane project] and focus on ensuring Sunrise is developed and the revenues are used to underwrite the sustainable, long-term development of Timor-Leste’s non-oil economy. If this does not come to pass, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that Timor-Leste is a failed state-in-waiting."

On 23 April, Timor-Leste's government formally notified Australia that it was exercising its right to arbitration under Annex B of the Timor Sea Treaty, arguing that CMATS is invalid because Australia conducted espionage in 2004 and did not negotiate the treaty in good faith. Although the notification has not been made public, Timor-Leste reportedly accused Australia of bugging Australian hotels and Dili government offices while Timor-Leste's negotiators were discussing their strategy. Timor-Leste named former British supreme court judge Lawrence Collins as its representative on the three-person arbitration panel. Australia will select another, and those two will select the third. Appointing the panel could take six months, and the arbitrators have another six months to issue a ruling by majority vote. The Australian government and media (also audio) reported the notification on 3 May. On 6 May, Timor-Leste Petroleum Minister Alfredo Pires (also audio) explained his reasoning, and the business press reported corporate reactions.

On 29 May, The Australian published Aussie spies accused of bugging Timor cabinet with additional information about Timor-Leste's complaint against Australia, with comments from Timor-Leste Petroleum Minister Alfredo Pires, his lawyer Bernard Collaery, former Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and others. ABC News reported that Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr "insists that the two countries are good friends," although he declined to comment on the specifics of the case. The following day, Radio Australia carried further comments from both sides.

On 4 June, Timor-Leste's Government issued a statement that "the overarching relationship between the two countries is and will continue to be one of deep unity, friendship and mutual respect." On the following day, Australian officials confirmed that they had not yet responded to Timor-Leste's arbitration filing. The press continued to follow the controversy, with articles in The Economist and Australian Financial Review, as well as many in the Independente and other Timorese newspapers. On 19 June, Australia responded, appointing U.S. law professor Michael Reisman as its arbitrator, (see report on Channel News Asia). The change of Prime Minister the following week will probably not significantly change Australian maritime boundary policies, and it is unlikely that the September election will either. On 5 July, Australia opposition spokesperson Julie Bishop visited Timor-Leste, exhibiting her ignorance about the 2006 CMATS treaty.

In October, the Timor-Leste and Australian members of the panel selected Argentinean-born Tullio Treves, a former judge of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and Professor at the University of Milan, Italy as the third member of the arbitration panel, and he will be its President. Australia accepted the selection and proposed rules of procedure. The three distinguished jurists have six months from when they first convene to issue a decision, which is expected during the second quarter of 2014. The panel heard first arguments on 5 December in The Hague, Netherlands. Skip below for subsequent events on this process.

Prior to the Australian election, its Parliament began an inquiry (all 77 submissions available here) on Australia's relationship with Timor-Leste. Submissions from La'o Hamutuk, the Timor Sea Justice Campaign, Robert King, Damien Kingsbury and many others urged Australia to respect Timor-Leste's sovereignty regarding maritime boundaries. Differing views were offered by the Australian Attorney General and Resources Ministry, ANU's Don Rothwell, and five oil companies. At a hearing on 21 May, Australian MPs and selected witnesses exchanged ideas and misinformation on the boundary issue, but a better perspective was expressed by ANU's Joanne Wallis at the hearing the following day: "...until the maritime boundary between Timor-Leste is settled and the exploitation of resources in the Timor Sea is agreed in a mutually satisfactory way there will always be strains in the relationship. ... [T]he best way for Australia to improve its relationship with Timor-Leste would be for us to comply with international law as set out in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and to refer the question of the maritime boundary to an international tribunal, preferably the International Court of Justice. The committee should not underestimate how central the exploitation of resources in the Timor Sea is to the Timor-Leste government's strategic development planning, or the amount of popular resentment that is present within Timor-Leste concerning Australia's approach to these resources. Australia is a very wealthy country with one of the highest standards of living in the world. Timor-Leste remains one of the world's poorest countries where 37 per cent of the population live below the global poverty line. I ask the committee to consider whether Australia is meeting its legal and moral obligations to Timor-Leste when you are preparing your report. Only once we do that will we ever have a truly free, fair and friendly relationship with one of our nearest neighbours." At another hearing on 24 June, Canberra Friends of Dili tried raise the boundary issue, but the MPs weren't interested. With the change of Government in Australia, the inquiry has lapsed but could resume.

The Australian exploration company Oilex is the operator of Product Sharing Contract JPDA 06-103 in the Joint Petroleum Development Area, holding a 10% share in partnership with five other companies (details here). The November 2006 PSC required the companies to drill six test wells during the next seven years, but only two dry wells have been drilled to date and Oilex has requested and received several extensions. On 12 July 2013, Oilex asked the ANP to terminate this contract because they are uncertain about the impacts of the ongoing maritime boundary dispute. As explained by Energy News, Oilex was already thinking about exiting this contract for other reasons, but "Private capital needs not only the geology, it needs the certainty on the government side and we don't think its quite possible to have that confidence when the treaty underpinning the PSC is up in the air." A month later, Timor-Leste responded by press release. In October 2013, Timor-Leste ministers were cited in local media as declining Oilex's request to withdraw, but saying that if they did, many other companies would jump at the chance. In July 2015, after two years of demands and negotiations, the ANP terminated Oilex's PSC, although the parties are still arguing about financial obligations.

More than half a dozen Australian journalists and producers contacted La'o Hamutuk after the raid. We explained that the long history of Australia's theft of Timor-Leste's oil begins with Woodside's discovery of the Sunrise field in 1974, which encouraged Australia to support Indonesia's invasion the following year. Australia's greed for the undersea wealth of the illegally occupied territory led Canberra and Jakarta to sign the 1989 Timor Gap Treaty over the corpses of tens of thousands of Timorese people. Australia's refusal since 2002 to recognize Timor-Leste's sovereignty by establishing legally valid maritime boundaries demonstrates their desire to continue to profit from maritime territory gained as part of Indonesia's illegal occupation. In light of this history and the continuing theft of 40% of Timor-Leste's oil and gas, the latest spying incidents are almost background noise, as La'o Hamutuk's Charles Scheiner explained on ABC Radio National (audio).

On the afternoon of Thursday, 5 December, a group of Timorese activists demonstrated peacefully across the street from the Australian Embassy in Dili. Their statement (Tetum original) said that the Movement Against The Occupation of the Timor Sea will continue to protest until Australia changes its policy. Click on any photo to see it larger.

The demonstration was totally peaceful, assisted by four PNTL officers who kept the protesters and the traffic separate. After about an hour, the PNTL "Task Force" arrived and immediately fired tear gas to disperse the protesters, without talking with anyone. The above banner headline and article from Diario Nacional describe the excessive force used by police without provocation. Unfortunately, a Timorese AFP stringer falsely reported that stones were thrown at the embassy, a slander eagerly propagated by media in Australia and around the world. Top officials of the Australian Embassy and PNTL confirmed to La'o Hamutuk and later to the media that the demonstration was totally nonviolent. On Friday morning we asked AFP to issue a retraction, and they revised the article 11 hours later, but the unrevised article was still on the internet more than a thousand times. Secretary of State for Security Francisco Guterres told ABC that "the police did not need to work with any force, especially tear gas," (audio), although the journalist did not believe his claim that no tear gas was used, citing the photo in Diario above. An Australian SBS radio program (audio) mentioned the false report of rock-throwing but aired and explained the demonstrators' goals. La'o Hamutuk wrote a blog entry on the Presumption of Violence which has been widely reposted.

Except for the false stone-throwing report, some Australian media are deepening their understanding. An editorial in the Melbourne Age concluded "If Australia has exploited such imbalances in power for commercial gain, and done so through espionage, then we should be deeply ashamed." Letters and columns by Donald Anton in the Age (longer version) and Richard Ackland (in the Sydney Morning Herald) include historical background and raise doubts Australia's behavior, and Michael Leach pointed out that Australia's democratic self-image is damaged by its actions in the Timor Sea. From the activist side, Shirley Shackleton warned that Bernard Collaery's "spark of justice and dignity" won't be easily intimidated. On the other hand Australian academic Sarah Heathcote "explained" that spying is normal so the tribunal is unlikely to invalidate CMATS.

On Friday, about 100 people joined the Movement Against the Occupation of the Timor Sea in a second nonviolent demonstration across from the Embassy from 2:30 to 5:30, with full cooperation of the police. Two representatives of the group were invited into the embassy to give their statement to Ambassador Miles Armitage, who told them he respects their right to demonstrate and will communicate their concerns to Canberra. Although this demonstration was covered by Timor-Leste television and Tempo Semanal, it was largely ignored by the international media, perhaps because all parties behaved peacefully and responsibly. Crikey and Lusa/Sapo videos were notable exceptions.

Monday afternoon saw the largest demonstration to date with around 200 people, including many children.

On Monday, 10 December, Timor-Leste asked ASIO to return all materials they seized from Bernard Collaery's office. Former president Jose Ramos-Horta added his voice to those condemning Australia's actions, as did Petroleum Minister Alfredo Pires (English audio or written Tetum ). The Australian Government updated its travel advice, warning visitors to Timor-Leste to "exercise a high degree of caution in Timor-Leste because of the uncertain security situation. The situation could deteriorate without warning. ... You should avoid demonstrations, street rallies and other large public gatherings as they may turn violent." As readers of website probably know, there has not been a violent demonstration in Timor-Leste for many years.

The protest that day, International Human Rights Day, was the largest so far, issuing this statement (also Tetum). As daily demonstrations will not continue, at least for now, we are sharing more photos of this one. Click on each one to see it larger. The sign in the second photo says "we don't like Australia" and the fourth one says "My blood spilled from the mountain to the SEA."

About 40 Timorese students and activists spent the morning of 13 December discussing legal, historical and strategic details of the maritime boundary dispute. You can download the Tetum PowerPoint La'o Hamutuk showed them (also PDF). They held another peaceful demonstration across from the embassy on 20 December.

In La'o Hamutuk's submission to the Australian Parliament last March, we wrote that "we cannot understand why the democratic nation of Australia, which respects human rights and rule of law for its own citizens, is unwilling to apply those principles to its northern neighbour. Is Australia so afraid of a fair boundary settlement that you would rather be a bully than a good international citizen? Why do you continue to exploit advantages you obtained during the shameful and bloody Indonesian occupation of our country? ... Australia should take the path of legality and mutual respect by engaging in good faith negotiations and dispute resolution processes to decide our maritime boundary." Although the latest scandal casts doubt on our initial premise, the renewed attention could help answer the questions we asked.

2014

Photo: (left) Attorney Bernard Collaery and Foreign Minister Jose Luis Guterres at the first open ICJ hearing on 20 January in the Hague
(right) Timor-Leste's attorney Sir Elihu Lauterpacht, Minister Jose Luis Guterres and Ambassador Joaquim Fonseca.

On 28 January, the ICJ issued an Order (followed by a press release) denying Australia's request to suspend the proceedings until the arbitration case is decided. The Order accepts Timor-Leste's request to keep the case going and sets a schedule for Timor-Leste to file written arguments by 28 April and Australia to respond by 28 July, with further proceedings to follow. The court will decide on Timor-Leste's request for provisional measures on 3 March, as explained by the Timor Sea Justice Campaign in Australia.

As Australian papers worried about graffiti on the wall outside their Dili embassy, Green Party Senator Scott Ludlum pressed the Attorney General and the head of ASIO for information about the raid on Collaery's office (video on YouTube part 1, part 2).

On 3 March, the International Court of Justice issued its preliminary Order (summary, press release) for provisional measures, accepting most of Timor-Leste's claims but declining to instruct Australia to return the seized materials. Twelve of the 16 judges ordered that:

Judge Cancado-Trindade (Brazil) agreed with the Order but wrote a separate opinion recommending that Australia be ordered to turn the seized materials over to the ICJ for safekeeping. Judges Keith (NZ), Greenwood (UK), Donoghue (USA) and Callinan (Australia) wrote dissenting opinions, suggesting that Australia should be given more trust or flexibility regarding the seized materials.

The CMATS arbitration case is proceeding in the Hague (see above for background). On 18 February 2014, Timor-Leste presented its first substantive arguments and evidence. Australia will respond on 19 May, and a second round of filings from Timor-Leste (18 July) and Australia (18 August) will provide the basis for hearings from 27 September to 2 October before the panel rules. On 23 February, ABC Radio National's Background Briefing aired a 40-minute documentary (transcript, audio, web page) examining the espionage during 2004-2005. In the program, ANU legal expert Donald Anton (download his ASIL paper) explained that "if the [eavesdropping] allegations prove true, Australia is in an unenviable and dubious position of being the first state of having a treaty it negotiated declared invalid on account of its fraud."

Susan Simpson has created an invaluable Google Earth bookmark and written an article (online original) showing how various agreements have drawn lines in the Timor Sea over the last 42 years, without setting a permanent maritime boundary.

On 19 March, Presidential researcher Guteriano Neves published a brief history of the Timor Sea Controversy (Tetum) in an effort to improved media and public awareness of the basics of the issue. The Independente newspaper put his article on the front page, while other papers were filled with Timorese politicians fulminating about last week's ABC report about an Australian diplomatic warning.

The same day, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão addressed the Jakarta International Defense Dialogue. He told the assembled dignitaries, including those from Australia: "However, in order for this cooperation [on maritime security] to be honest and serious, it is vital that we determine the maritime borders between countries, under international law, in a clear manner without subterfuges of any kind.
"It is truly offensive to see how some countries, because they are large, wealthy or heavily armed, are always the ones that are more unfair to their neighbours, particularly when those neighbours are small and poor.
"International law is always invoked, in the pronouncements made in relation to other countries. But international law is simply relegated or forgotten, when it is to ensure major economic benefits at the expense of the principle of fair policy and of the universal values of equal rights and obligations between peoples and nations."

On 1 April, the Sydney Morning Herald cited Timor-Leste's lawyers as saying that a January letter from Australia to Timor-Leste supporting ConocoPhillips in the Bayu-Undan tax dispute linked the tax cases to the CMATS arbitration currently in process, inadvertently strengthening Timor-Leste's request for arbitration under the Timor Sea Treaty.

Later in April, the CMATS arbitration panel ordered Australia to allow the ex-ASIS whistleblower to provide evidence to their proceeding. Australia had cancelled the former agent's passport four months earlier in an effort to prevent him from travelling to testify to the panel, but technology could allow other options.

In early May, Timor-Leste's Petroleum Ministry invited experts from the U.K. Hydrographic Office to Dili, where they gave workshops on principles and precedents for resolving maritime border disputes. La'o Hamutuk joined with others from media, government, security forces and civil society, as we all tried our hands at delineating the issues underlying undersea boundaries.

In mid-July, the Northern Territory Bar Association held its biennial conference in Dili, including Australian attorneys Christopher Ward and Bernard Collaery as speakers. Conference participants adopted resolutions calling on the Australian government To give up its unlawful and unjust claim to a boundary north of the median line; To support the immediate commencement of negotiations to settle the lateral boundaries of the Timor Gap; and To require Australia's Parliament to conduct a full and proper inquiry into allegations that the Australian Secret Intelligence Service unlawfully entered and eavesdropped on Timor-Leste during the CMATS Treaty negotiations. A few weeks later, the Victoria Local Government Association Working Together with Timor-Leste conference in Melbourne adopted similar resolutions. On 29 August, the Timor Sea Justice Campaign used the 15th anniversary of Timor-Leste's independence referendum to urge Australia to resolve their common maritime boundary, which TSJC coordinator Tom Clarke explained more deeply in New Matilda.

In the Hague, oral arguments on the International Court of Justice case were expected to commence on 17 September, but on 3 September the Court granted the request that Timor-Leste and Australia made on 1 September to adjourn the proceedings indefinitely "in order to enable [the two countries] to seek an amicable settlement." This development was reported by Radio Australia, the Age and SBS, among others. A few days later, former President Jose Ramos-Horta excused Australia's spying by saying that all nations do it, but Russell Marks of Politicoz wrote that Australia could still be the first country to have a treaty invalidated on grounds of fraud.

On 19 October, Fairfax journalist Tom Allard wrote of an interview with Xanana Gusmão, in which the PM explained that, despite concerns about Timor-Leste, he had accepted Australia's proposal to negotiate the boundaries, reserving the right to go back to court if negotiations fail. Talks began quietly, although Timor-Leste's Parliament passed a resolution (official Portuguese) on 24 October supporting the Government to create a Special Council to oversee definitive maritime boundary negotiations with Australia. On 27 October, Allard reported that Timor-Leste was moving ahead to begin negotiations. The Australian Timor Sea Justice Campaign welcomed the upcoming negotiations, urging Australians tell their government to treat Timor-Leste fairly, and their call was covered by SBS. PGI Intelligence was encouraged by renewed negotiations, writing that Timor-Leste "has a strong case" to establish a boundary which would give it a larger share of Greater Sunrise.

At the end of October, the Australian Financial Review and Reuters reported that Woodside is more willing to consider building the LNG plant for Greater Sunrise onshore in Timor-Leste.

2015 Major events this year discussed below include:

During a press conference about the release of Woodside's 2014 Annual Report on 18 February, President Peter Coleman announced that Woodside will "shelve" work on Greater Sunrise until sovereignty and LNG plant location issues are resolved. Woodside made $2.4 billion in profits in 2014, but says that falling world oil prices have reduced its income and required cuts. They are laying off 320 workers (although Coleman received a $2 million pay increase, bringing his 2014 salary to nearly US$7 million). See reports by AAP/The Australian, Reuters, Upstream and The West Australian. Many in Timor-Leste believe that the Sunrise announcement is a bargaining tactic, intended to put pressure on the Timor-Leste government to give in to the positions of the company and Australia on a floating LNG plant and continuing the CMATS agreement without establishing a maritime boundary. According to the Woodside's new annual report (which is dated 18 February but apparently was written before this decision was taken), "we continue to engage with the Timor-Leste and Australian governments to facilitate the timely progression of the Sunrise development, including discussions on multiple development concepts including both on and offshore options. ... Woodside remains committed to developing Greater Sunrise once alignment on a commercial development concept is achieved." CEO Coleman was more diplomatic in his address to Woodside's Annual Meeting on 16 April: "On Sunrise, I think we can expect to see some real progress once clear title and fiscal terms are established."

Six months after Australia and Timor-Leste asked the International Court of Justice to suspend their hearings in early September 2014, Timor-Leste media quizzed local authorities about progress in the secret talks with Australia, but little information was forthcoming. Independente editorialized that Re-negotiations about the Maritime Boundary Line Must Proceed with Honesty on both sides.

On 10 March, Timor-Leste's National Procurement Commission announced its Intent to Award a $3.8 million contract for "Pre-FEED" preliminary engineering design for the LNG plant in Beaçu. La'o Hamutuk wrote a letter of protest to the Commission on 17 March, urging that the contract not be awarded because the project will not be built for many year, if ever.

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed column on 11 March, ex-Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão wrote: "[Since 2007], much of our official energy was diverted into complex negotiations with Australia about access to valuable oil and gas resources on the Timorese side of the median line in the Timor Sea. But the median line in the Timor Sea that separates East Timor and Australia has yet to be accepted by Australia as the boundary. This leaves us with no recognized boundary and no understanding as to where East Timor ends and Australia begins, with security and commercial implications for both countries.
"These negotiations continue, and though I am no longer the prime minister, I will continue pursuing full sovereignty for our nation as we work for a permanent maritime boundary properly determined by international law. Only with this determination will East Timor’s full sovereignty be secured, and with it the sovereign ability to pursue the economic direction best for our people."

On 3 May, Timor-Leste's government "appreciated" Australia's decision (also Tetum) to return all documents and data seized from Bernard Collaery's Canberra office in December 2013. Australia had written to the ICJ stating its wish to return the materials, and on 22 April the court agreed. However, Timor-Leste lamented that "there had been little progress" in scheduling boundary negotiations, although the six-month adjournment of the ICJ case expired on 3 March. However, Dili "remains optimistic that the leaders of our great neighbor will demonstrate courage and commit to a clear course of negotiations to settle the maritime boundaries between our two countries once and for all." Australia's partial change of heart was reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, ABC, The Australian and the Guardian, although the Timor Sea Justice Campaign in Australia continued to urge Australia to enter boundary negotiations in good faith. On 6 May, the ICJ issued a press release with background, text and separate opinions on their 22 April order, reported by 9 News.

On 12 May, Timor-Leste's government announced that Australia had returned the materials taken from Collaery. At around the same time, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs released a one-page summary of Australia's maritime arrangements with Timor-Leste, ignoring the current controversies. On the other hand, Crikey.com wrote that Australian Attorney-General George Brandis makes a mockery of IGIS' vaunted 'independence' and wondered why outgoing Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Vivienne Thom "gets to leave without ever explaining why she blatantly maintains something contradicted by the public record on the most serious spy scandal in decades."

On 3 June, Timor-Leste said (also Tetum) that it would ask the ICJ to terminate the Timor-Leste v. Australia case about the raid on Bernard Collaery's office. At the same time, Dili is reopening the case it filed in April 2013 with the Permanent Court of Arbitration, asking that the 2006 CMATS treaty be annulled because Australia spied on Timorese officials while it was being negotiated. These developments were reported by the Sydney Morning Herald and ABC. Two days later, the Guardian, Wall Street Journal, and Agence France-Presse reported that "disappointed" Australia was still committed to CMATS and "would strongly defend the arbitration," preferring "consultation" to "negotiations." Unfortunately, the WSJ article incorrectly wrote that CMATS had "created [a] sea border" (in fact, it explicitly prevented establishing a boundary) and that contested territory outside the JPDA is under "exclusive Australian jurisdiction" (the dispute over these areas is the heart of the controversy). The AFP wrongly implied that there is an existing boundary to be renegotiated and confused the ICJ with the PCA (both tribunals are in The Hague, Netherlands, but they are distinct institutions). The Timor Sea Justice Campaign expected that dropping the ICJ case would help "focus on the original case and the need for permanent maritime boundaries."

On the same day, the International Court of Justice issued an order accepting Timor-Leste's 2 June request (and Australia's 9 June agreement) to "discontinue" the Timor-Leste v. Australia case, and removed the case from the Court's List of activities, as announced in an ICJ press release the following day. The news was reported by the Saturday Paper, the Guardian (AAP) and Baker & McKenzie. The CMATS case in the Permanent Court of Arbitration continues, as Timor-Leste Foreign Minister Hernani Coelho explained in Diario Nasional on 17 June.

Australian authorities continue to prepare for criminal prosecution against "Witness K," the former ASIS agent who exposed the 2004 Australian bugging of Timor-Leste's offices.

On 29 June, Timor-Leste's Consultative Commission for the Final Delimitation of Maritime Boundaries held its first meeting (also Tetum) (see above for background, photo at left). Prime Minister Rui Araùjo met with other ministers, former Presidents and former Prime Ministers to discuss the role of the new entity, although Mari Alkatiri, Alfredo Pires and Hernani Coelho were unable to attend. Elizabeth Exposto, who has worked closely with Xanana Gusmão and Agio Pereira since before the restoration of independence in 2002, is the Chief Executive Officer of the new Maritime Boundary Office.

Former Australian MP and advisor to Timor-Leste's government Janelle Saffin spoke at a 22 July seminar on Melbourne Law School on Time to Draw the Line, in the Timor Sea that is. Former Victoria Premier Steve Bracks challenged his Labor Party to "right another historic wrong" by "allowing Timor-Leste and Australia to finalise our maritime boundary according to the rule of law, and with resort if necessary to an international umpire.

During the Singapore arbitration hearings on Timor-Leste's effort to collect unpaid taxes from oil companies, ConocoPhillips presented a letter from the Australian government asserting that Australia has "exclusive jurisdiction" to tax the pipeline which takes Bayu-Undan gas to Darwin. Although ConocoPhillips withdrew the letter after Timor-Leste objected that they had not seen it, Timor-Leste decided to initiate a new arbitration case under the Timor Sea Treaty regarding pipeline jurisdiction. Australia responded with a press release, and the controversy was reported by the Wall Street Journal (with errors), Business Spectator and Australian Associated Press, as well as in trade media Platts and IHS.

In late September, Prime Minister Rui Araùjo, accompanied by Jose Ramos-Horta, Xanana Gusmão and others, went to New York for the UN General Assembly. The Prime Minister raised the issue of Maritime Boundaries at Columbia University and in other fora, and his interview with Associated Press was carried by dozens of media outlets all over the world. On the morning of 1 October, Dr. Araùjo, Ramos-Horta and Gusmão and TL Maritime Boundary Office head Elizabeth Exposto spoke at an International Peace Institute seminar "Timor-Leste’s Story: Securing its Sovereignty over Land and Sea" (streaming video or 17 MB audio podcast). That afternoon, the Prime Minister told the General Assembly that "the national consensus in Timor-Leste is that we must work toward the full assertion of our national sovereignty under international law and standards. And this full assertion of our sovereignty includes the demarcation of our maritime borders with our two great neighboring nations: Indonesia and Australia. As a matter of principle, Timor-Leste resorts to negotiations pursuant to international law and standards and, when dialog fails to resolve disagreements, our country chooses to use international conflict-resolution mechanisms."

On 16 October, Woodside announced that it was selling its share in the Laminaria-Corallina oil fields, after a decade and a half of production from fields that belong to Timor-Leste under median line legal principles. La'o Hamutuk estimates that Australia took in more than two billion dollars that should have gone to Timor-Leste since the field began production in late 1999.

In the Australian Parliament on 20 October, Attorney General Brandis took pains to evade questions about the settlement of the ICJ case, ASIO's reasons for raiding Bernard Collaery's office, and how much Australia had paid in legal costs related to the case. On the other side of the sea, Timor-Leste's government appreciated ICJ's work in an 11 November press release.

Planning Minister Xanana Gusmão reiterated Timor-Leste's position when he received an honorary doctorate from Melbourne University on 7 December, 40 years after Indonesian invaded Timor-Leste with Australian diplomatic support: "The Government of Timor-Leste has made the permanent delimitation of maritime boundaries a national priority as it is the final step in our long struggle for full sovereignty.
Indonesia and Timor-Leste have commenced maritime boundary negotiations and have agreed to abide by the principles set out in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and international law. Australia on the other hand has refused to negotiate a maritime boundary with Timor-Leste and Timor-Leste cannot refer the issue to be determined by an independent umpire. This is because in 2002, on the eve of Timor-Leste’s independence, Australia withdrew from the compulsory dispute mechanisms set up under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea for any disputes relating to the delimitation of its maritime zones.
Like your new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, I am an optimist. And so, I look to the new Australian Government to recognise that it is in Australia’s national interest to have a clearly defined permanent maritime boundary in the Timor Sea. From the Timorese perspective we are fighting for justice in the Timor Sea so that we can finish the work of our struggle for independence and achieve our rightful sovereignty under international law. We are continuing to be idealists."

2016 Major events this year discussed below include:

Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited Timor-Leste on 26 January, reiterating his commitment to negotiate land and sea borders with Timor-Leste. On the same day, many people attending the official Australia Day reception at Timor Plaza wore badges with the image at left. Click on it to download a higher-resolution version, and display it proudly.

On 2 February, the ABC television program Lateline (video) reported that Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop had declined to restore Witness K's passport that had been cancelled in 2013. On 11 February, Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs told a Senate hearing that it would allow Witness K to give evidence in the Hague but would not restore his passport.

On 10 February, Shadow Foreign Minister Tanya Plibersek, acknowledging that the boundary dispute had "poisoned our relations with our newest neighbor" promised that a future Labor Party government would negotiate in good faith with Timor-Leste and submit to international adjudication or arbitration if negotiations fail. Although she did not mention support for a Median Line boundary or the necessity of repealing CMATS paragraphs 4.6 and 4.7 before such processes could proceed, her statement was reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, Guardian, and The Australian as a significant change in policy. It was welcomed by the Timor Sea Justice Campaign the Australian Council of Trade Unions/APHEDA, the Australia East Timor Association SA and Timor-Leste's government.

Monash and Swinburne Universities organized two public events in mid-February Click on a name to download their presentation or statement, or on the seminar titles for videos and summaries.

On 17 February, La'o Hamutuk and about 50 people from the Movement Against the Occupation of the Timor Sea held a workshop on historical, legal, political and strategic issues relating to the boundary dispute between Australia and Timor-Leste, to prepare for a peaceful action to mark the anniversary of CMATS coming into force on 23 February 2007. Download the Tetum-language PowerPoint (also PDF).

On 22 February, protest organizers wrote a letter to Australian Ambassador Peter Doyle explaining their peaceful intentions. More than 1,000 Timorese citizens and a few international supporters brought their concerns to the Australian Embassy in Dili on 23 February, where they rallied peacefully for many hours under a hot sun and were covered by social and Australian media, and others including New Zealand, Qatar, West Timor, Channel News Asia and UCANews. Click on any of the photos below to see them larger.

On 29 February, the Timor-Leste government Maritime Boundary Office officially launched its website, which includes this Fact Sheet and other materials in English, Tetum and Portuguese. Prime Minister Dr. Rui Maria Araùjo spoke at the launch (also Tetum).

Australian Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove visited Dili on 3 March. Although he did not have time to meet with MKOTT leaders, they wrote him an open letter (also Tetum) expressing their concerns, which was reported in New Zealand. However, the Governor-General heard Timor-Leste's frustration with Australia's position on maritime boundaries from virtually everyone he met, including the four political parties in Parliament (statements in Tetum), the President of the Republic and veterans' representatives.

More protests were held in March in Dili, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Jakarta, Manila, Kuala Lumpur and elsewhere. This Facebook page has been set up for them. The first was outside Parliament House in Canberra on 15 March (photo at left), and included speeches from Kelvin Thompson (ALP MP for Wills), Senator Scott Ludlam (Greens foreign affairs spokesperson) Senator Nick Xenophon (independent SA), Senator John Madigan (independent VIC), Bernard Collaery (lawyer for ASIO whistleblower 'Witness K') and historian Dr Adam Hughes Henry. Peter Job read a statement by the Hon Tanya Plibersek, Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs. Bernard Collaery's speech was picked up by the Canberra Times, which ran one article on Australian intelligence bugging his Canberra office, and another on his statement that high Australian officials knew of the 2004 bugging of Timor-Leste's cabinet rooms. All speakers emphasized the importance of seeking a just settlement with the people and government of Timor-Leste.

As the 21-24 March week of protests begins, the Australian Timor-Sea Justice Campaign (TSJC) and U.S. East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) shared MKOTT's appeal and asked people from around the world to share photos of themselves supporting Timor-Leste's boundary rights. Here are a few which have come in from around the world (click on a photo to see it larger):

A second protest, also involving thousands of people, was held in Dili the following day. Protests were also held across Australia, including Sydney and Melbourne ("Hands Off" photo):

On 4 April, Timor-Leste's Parliament unanimously resolved (Portuguese original) to support the negotiation process for maritime boundaries.

On 11 April, Timor-Leste announced (also Tetum) that it had just notified Australia that it was initiating "compulsory conciliation proceedings under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), with the aim of concluding an agreement with Australia on permanent maritime boundaries." The action, explained by a government fact sheet (also Tetum), raises complex legal issues as it navigates among UNCLOS dispute resolution provisions, Australia's unilateral 2002 withdrawal from UNCLOS processes for maritime boundary disputes (see below for related documents), and the "gag rule" in CMATS Article 4, especially paragraph 6. Nevertheless, as RDTL spokesperson Agio Pereira explained on Australia's Radio National, Timor-Leste is frustrated with Australian intransigence for the past 14 years, concerned that 'provisional' arrangements could evolve to become permanent, and seeks to look toward the future and accelerate the eventual settlement of the maritime boundary as foreseen in the existing revenue-sharing agreements. Timor-Leste's initiative, which is the first time ever that this process has been invoked, was reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, South China Morning Post, LUSA and ABC.

The Conciliation Process forced Australia into negotiations which led to the signing of a Boundary Treaty in March 2018, and the story continues on another page on this website.

2012-2016: Protesting the Australia-Timor-Leste
CMATS Treaty to compel boundary negotiations

2014

2015 Major events this year discussed below include:

2016 Major events this year discussed below include:

Commentary and analysis from 2006-2013 (most recent first). See here for commentary in Tetum.

2012-2016: Protesting the Australia-Timor-LesteCMATS Treaty to compel boundary negotiations

2014

2015 Major events this year discussed below include:

2016 Major events this year discussed below include:

Commentary and analysis from 2006-2013 (most recent first). See here for commentary in Tetum.

2012-2016: Protesting the Australia-Timor-Leste
CMATS Treaty to compel boundary negotiations