Thread by @MrRexPatrick

Since 1969 @dfat has exploited complicit and unwitting prime ministers & ministers from both sides of politics to defraud #TimorLeste of its oil & gas resource. DFAT's made the bed we now sadly have to lie in. All Aussies should read this thread! #auspol theguardian.com/world/2022/aug…

1969: Australia granted 5 petroleum exploration permits over parts of the seabed that lay closer to Portuguese-Timor than Australia … and then refused to talk to Portugal about a sea boundary, even after their 1970 formal protest about Australia's Timor Sea claim. #auspol

1975 - 1999: Alone in the world, and with the aim of accessing #TimorLeste’s oil & gas resources, Australia encouraged and lent support to Indonesia’s invasion of Timor, whose citizens preferred independence. 204,000 Timorese died opposing Indonesia’s occupation. #auspol

2002: In the face of Timor-Leste finally becoming independent, the Australian Govt withdrew itself from the maritime boundary jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea, so there could be no independent umpire. #auspol

In a recent @aat_gov_au hearing dealing with my application to access 20 year-old documents relating to Australia’s Timor Gap negotiations, I was not permitted into the hearing room to listen to and test the Govt’s secrecy arguments. I was left standing outside the room. #auspol

2004: After shaking #TimorLeste’s hand and agreeing to negotiate a sea boundary in good faith, Australian officials engaged in a conspiracy to defraud the Timorese of their oil & gas by spying on their negotiating team. A treaty beneficial to Australia was signed in 2006. #auspol

2013: In response to #TimoreLeste commencing arbitration in The Hauge to have the fraud infected 2006 treaty made void, the Australian Government improperly raided and seized documents from the offices of Timor-Leste’s lawyer in the proceedings. #auspol

2016: #TimorLeste launched compulsory conciliation under the Article 289 of the Law of the Sea Convention. Despite the Australian Govt claiming they engaged in good faith, it made six objections to compulsory conciliation, with the Commission dismissing them all. #auspol

2018: The Australian Govt concluded a treaty with #TimorLeste and then immediately commenced prosecuting Bernard Collaery, the lawyer that blew the whistle on Australia’s abhorrent 2004 spying operation. This was despite the Timorese viewing Collaery as a national hero. #auspol

2018 - 2022: The Australian Government, against the will of #TimorLeste, are still working behind the scenes to ensure Timor Sea oil & gas gets processed in Darwin. Under no circumstances do they want Timor-Leste’s ‘Tasi Mane’ onshore processing vision to proceed. #auspol

In 2019 @dfat used Australia’s offshore energy regulator to shut down an Aussie petroleum company successfully operating out of #TimorLeste’s southern plateau. It didn’t fit the Australian Govt’s narrative and complicated its plans for oil & gas processing in Darwin. #auspol

My 2019 #FOI attempts to access documents relating to Australia’s view of the ‘Tasi Mane’ project have been met with secrecy claims. In an #FOI commissioner’s review it’s been revealed they tried to withhold access to media talking points and docs available on the web. #auspol

For over 50 years @dfat has tried to steal #TimorLeste’s oil & gas. They have acted in a disgraceful manner against both Australia’s and Timor-Leste’s interest. Instead of Australians helping our northern friends develop an industry, the Chinese will. [End] #PolicyFailure #auspol