Archive

2018

New Book and Video from Maritime Boundaries Office Timor-Leste
Timor-Leste’s Maritime Boundary Office has launched – New Frontiers: Timor-Leste’s Historic Conciliation on Maritime Boundaries in the Timor Sea – a publication that documents the first-ever compulsory conciliation process under the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea.

Greater Sunrise Oilfields and Food Insecurity in Timor-Leste
Dispute processes have cost time and money that could have been better spent exploiting the field’s resources, creating jobs and generating revenue.

Why Timor-Leste took its $484 million Greater Sunrise gamble
The oil-dependent country’s acquisition of ConocoPhillips’ 30% Greater Sunrise stake is seen as the final step in securing sovereignty. But is it worth the risk?

Bill introduced to implement Treaty with Timor-Leste
Legislation to implement the landmark Maritime Boundary Treaty with Timor-Leste introduced into the Australian Parliament.

Developing Timor-Leste’s Oil Resource: At what cost? Analysis
Viji Menon

Hard times ahead for a politically divided Timor-Leste
Damien Kingsbury

Madness is Catching
Scapegoating in the Coalition

Enemy Twins
Susan Connelly’s article for Eureka Street, 16 August 2018. It is a Girardian reflection on the maiden speech of a Senator which puts the blame for many of Australia’s ills onto migrants, particularly Muslim people.

2016

Read Pastor Benny Giay’s comprehensive presentation on West Papua.
Read the report ‘We Will Lose Everything’ from a recent visit to Papua.

Father John Djonga is being threatened with treason.

People are arrested for praying for freedom.

Summary of West Papua March 2016.

Read about responses to recent killings. For a full account of the ongoing violence in December 2015, refer to this summary from the Australia West Papua Association.

2015

René Girard interpreted human violence in a way that challenges each of us to face reality in this increasingly violent world. Find here some articles which give an introduction to his extraordinary work and thought.

On August 15, 1962, the future of West Papua was determined by the Netherlands, Indonesia and the USA in the so-called “New York Agreement”. The voice missing was that of the West Papuan people.

Read an eyewitness report of a recent visit to West Papua.
Watch a demonstration in London on 15 August, 2015.

Here is an article by Senator Nick Xenophon entitled “Failure to deal fairly with East Timor opening the door to China.”   And here is a letter in response.

Please find here a “Writing Rings for Righting Wrongs” concerning the Australian Border Force Act 2015 which removes the right of health professionals and others to report abuse in detention centres.

Vanishing Tribes is a free, interactive, 70-page illustrated eBook that tells a fictional story based on real events in West Papua. It is a tribute to the people of this island nation and their unstoppable determination against all odds to regain their freedom through 50 years of passive resistance.

East Timor drops spying case against Australia at UN International Court of Justice.

Click here to read about a demonstration in Parliament House to draw attention to asylum seekers.  Innocent people should not be locked up.

Read the ACTU policy on the Timor Sea resources passed at the May 2015 Conference.

Also, East Timor revives attempt to have Greater Sunrise treaty declared invalid amid spying allegations.

Watch the GetUp! Australia ad about Australia’s responsibility to agree on a permanent border in the Timor Sea.  Timor-Leste needs the border for its stability, and Australia needs it for its integrity.

Here are two articles concerning the anniversary of World War I, both of which critique the manipulation of the Anzac image.

Don Watson:  “Lest we go over the top”

Tom Hyland: “No honour in commercialisation of ‘Disney’ Diggers”

2014

Click here for a short clip on the Timor Sea issues.

This four minute visual asks why there is no maritime boundary between Australia and Timor-Leste.

With maps, a cartoon, photos of graffiti in Dili and some disturbing facts about the benefits Australia has already received from disputed oil and gas areas, it gives a potted history and a call to action.