PM’s East Timor visit complicated by past ‘chicanery’
The Prime Minister will seek to improve the complex relationship between Australia and Timor-Leste when he addresses the small island nation’s parliament.
In his first visit to one of our closest neighbors on Wednesday, Anthony Albanese will highlight Australia’s contributions to the country, including the government’s support for Timor’s independence in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
“In dark times, our friendship and our innate respect for each other, for democracy and for sovereignty will prevail,” Mr Albanese will say in a speech to the country’s parliament, according to quotes provided to AAP.
“As Prime Minister of Australia, I say today to you and the brave Timorese people you represent: Your Australian friends will never forget you.”
Mr Albanese is not expected to make any statements about the ongoing dispute over access to gas fields in the Timor Sea.
East Timor has long been demanding that gas extracted from the sea between the country and Australia be transferred through pipes to the southern coast for processing.
Until recently Woodside, which operated the fields, insisted it would be cheaper to ship the gas to Darwin.
The energy giant has signed a deal to explore building a gas plant in Timor-Leste in late 2025, but the project still needs to clear a number of significant hurdles.
Gordon Peake, a researcher and writer who lived in the country from 2007 to 2011, said the ongoing impasse was “a nuisance” in the relationship between the two countries and that Timorese officials hoped to achieve tangible progress from Mr Albanese’s visit.
“Timores people really hope that the prime minister’s visit is not just about handshakes, smiles and sweet nothings,” he told AAP.
Dr Peake added that Mr Albanese’s visit was complicated by the complex history between the two countries.
In 1975, the then Whitlam government recognized Indonesia’s occupation of East Timor, also known as East Timor, and signed an oil and gas agreement with Indonesia.
“The Timorese feel that Australia owes them money for Australia’s past cheating in East Timor, as they look the other way whenever the Indonesians invade,” Dr Peake said. Peake.
As well as addressing the Timor-Leste parliament, Mr Albanese is expected to meet Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão and President José Ramos-Horta during his visit.
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