Australian Geographic – July-August 2019

. 91

A

USTRALIA’S LENGTHY sea

border dispute with

Timor-Leste began in 1972,

when Australia negotiated a maritime

border with Indonesia. At the time

Timor-Leste was under Portuguese

colonial rule and its sea border was

not demarcated, leaving a gap in the

Australia–Indonesia border leading

to the Timor Gap terminology. In

1989, while Timor-Leste was under

Indonesian occupation, Australia and

Indonesia signed the Timor Gap

Treaty: the two nations agreed to

share Timor Sea resources in a joint

development zone but disagreed on

where the sea border should be set

between Australia and Timor-Leste,

and the latter was left with no

permanent maritime border.

After Timor-Leste gained inde-

pendence it signed the Timor Sea

Treaty with Australia in 2002, but no

permanent maritime border was

negotiated. Timor-Leste argued the

border should sit halfway between

the two countries, placing most of

the lucrative Greater Sunrise oil and

gas field in their territory. Australia

argued the border should sit on the

Timor Trough, which divides two

continental shelves and is located

significantly closer to Timor-Leste

than Australia.

Australia and Timor-Leste signed

the Certain Treaty on Maritime

Arrangements in the Timor Sea

(CMATS) in 2006 but still no

permanent border was set. The

treaty ruled that revenue from the

Greater Sunrise oil and gas field

would be split evenly between the

two countriei

however, offlldh

CMAT in 201hfll

it signed a mbd

with Australhd

Nations in Nkhdf

which oil and gas fields belong to

each country, with an area worth

billions in a yet-to-be-mined gas field

to be shared.

This year, because our parliament

has not yet ratified the treaty,

Australia continued to claim a

10 per cent stake in an oil field that

under the treaty now fully belongs

to Timor-Leste. The Timor-Leste

Governance Project says the field

could have generated an estimated

$60 million in the past 12 months.

Former Timor-Leste president and

Nobel Peace Prize recipient Dr José

Ramos-Horta says he is confident

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Dr José Ra ,

president of

continues tooos

country’s fu

TROUBLED WATERS

Australia and Timor-Leste both claim ownership of the sea border

between them, an area known as the Timor Gap, which contains highly

prized oil and gas fields worth many billions of dollars.

PHOTO CREDIT: BRENDON THORNE / STRINGER

July. August 91

two countries. Timor-Leste,

however, officially terminated the

CMAT in 2017. The following year

it signed a maritime border treaty

with Australia at the United

Nations in New York that defines

Australia will return the money

once the treaty is ratified,

and that the dispute will

not damage relations

between the

two countries.

Dr José Ramos-Horta, a former

president of the new nation,

continues to work for his

country’s future.