David Timor has once again scored a win against Goliath Australia in the international legal forum. Last time it was in the International Court of Justice which took strong exception to Australia's raiding of the office of a lawyer involved in the preparation of Timor Leste's case, though admittedly Australia's one ad hoc judge did dissent on key points from the other 15 judges!
This time it was before a five-member Conciliation Commission convened under the auspices of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. Timor had asked for compulsory conciliation seeking to advance its demand that Australia come to the table and commence the negotiation of maritime boundaries. Australia raised six objections to the conciliation. All six objections were rejected unanimously by the commission.
Two of the commissioners were nominated directly by Australia. One of those commissioners was Dr Rosalie Balkin who had been a highly respected Assistant Secretary in the Australian Attorney-General's Department. She had been in charge of the Public International Law Branch in the Office of International Law.
Balkin's involvement is very significant in light of the long entrenched Canberra bureaucratic mindset which has informed governments of both political persuasions on Timor issues, urging them to yield no ground when it comes to boundary negotiations.
Responding to the commission's findings, Attorney General George Brandis and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Tuesday regurgitated the long repeated Canberra mantra: 'The current treaty arrangements between Australia and Timor-Leste have been hugely beneficial to Timor-Leste and have supported the accumulation of a $16 billion sovereign wealth fund ...
'We have a strong interest in Timor-Leste's stability and growing prosperity, and in providing a stable and transparent framework for investment in the Timor Sea.'
They have no idea just how patronising this sounds in Dili each time Australia gets defeated in the international forum. They may well be right. But it's not their call. Timor-Leste is now an independent sovereign nation and its leaders, which include those who fought for its independence, now want to negotiate maritime boundaries. It's time for some very plain speaking in Canberra.
Australia and Timor Leste negotiated the Timor Sea Treaty in 2002 and the CMATS Treaty (Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in The Timor Sea) in 2006. The CMATS treaty was negotiated in such indecent haste that Foreign Minister Alexander Downer deliberately circumvented the usual Australian parliamentary process for scrutinising the treaty.
"Turnbull's advisers may well continue to argue that risks in relationships can be minimised