Pip Hinman, Sydney
Paddy Keneally, a former wharfie and Australian commander in East Timor, condemned the Coalition government for stealing Timor's oil at a rally in Martin Place on April 26. The same day, talks resumed in Dili between Timorese and Australian authorities over the disputed oil and gas fields in the Timor Sea.
The protest, organised by the Australia East Timor Association (AETA) and supported by the Timor Sea Justice Campaign (TSJC), marched to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) offices to lodge a copy of a letter titled "Your friends will never forget you". This letter was dropped over East Timor during the second world war by the Australian air force, but now had "CANCELLED" scrawled over it.
An emotional Timorese woman, Ina Bradbidge from HOPE, told the protest that her people did not need "aid", but only needed "what is ours". Jeff Lee from AETA explained that while East Timor has an annual budget of just $100 million, Australia takes millions of dollars in oil and gas royalties from the Timor Sea.
Max Lane from Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific described the current sea boundary, negotiated with Indonesia's former dictator president Suharto, as "a border negotiated with the blood of 200,000 East Timorese lives" and argued that the Timorese needed full sovereignty, not blood money.
ACTU president Sharan Burrow urged the government to "stop short-changing maritime boundaries and government royalties", adding that "it is in Australia's best interests to have a prosperous and stable East Timor as our neighbour". The ACTU wants East Timorese people to be employed on the rigs and platforms in the Timor Sea.
Margarita Windisch reports from Melbourne that government offices at Casselden Place were encircled by hundreds of postcards to Howard, signed by supporters of the TSJC.
TSJC spokesperson Vannessa Hearman urged protesters to continue to strengthen the campaign to ensure that the "Timorese are in the best bargaining position possible".
"Because our government refuses to submit to international law, the best hope the Timorese people have is to rely on public pressure here and elsewhere to win this dispute."
Timorese activist Alex Tilman reflected on the experiences of his family in East Timor, including those who fought alongside Australian soldiers in the second world war. Tilman said the Timorese still have no access to basic health care and properly-equipped schools and that "the funds from the Timor Sea" are "really needed in East Timor".
Tilman, along with the TSJC's Tom Clarke and businessman Ian Melrose, handed the postcards to DFAT representatives after the rally.
From Green Left Weekly, May 4, 2005.
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