The Australian foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has attempted to improve Australia’s ties with Timor-Leste by conceding that “disappointing” actions by past governments were “not in the spirit of our friendship”.
Wong did not mention the scandal surrounding Australia’s bugging of the nation’s cabinet room in 2004, but acknowledged Timor-Leste’s sovereign right to make its own choices “without having them encroached by others”.
In a speech in the Timor-Leste capital, Dili, on Friday, Wong said she wanted to “acknowledge some of the past” regarding disputes over access to underwater oil and gas reserves that lay between the two countries.
“There have been past instances in which Australian governments have acted in ways that the Timorese people – and many Australians – found disappointing,” Wong said.
She said Timor-Leste was right to launch a bid for compulsory conciliation to resolve the maritime boundary dispute with Australia in 2016, as it was entitled to do under the UN convention on the law of the sea.
“The Australian government should not have formally challenged the competence of the conciliation commission, when a broader, more understanding approach was needed that reflected the unique relationship we had with such a close neighbour,” Wong said.
“It was not in the spirit of our friendship, from our struggle together in World War Two to our support for your young nation after independence.”
Wong conceded that Australia had “looked at this issue too narrowly and without considering the importance of this issue in the context of your path to sovereignty”.
The minister said after the challenge failed, the Australian government – with Labor’s support – embraced the conciliation process and reinvigorated a “good faith approach in a way that better reflected the spirit of our friendship”.
The speech did not specifically mention the diplomatic dispute stemming from a 2004 operation by the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (Asis) to bug key offices of the Timor-Leste government – a move that one of the key negotiators for the developing country later described as “outrageous”.
Australia originally secured a 50-50 split of the Greater Sunrise fields, positioned 450km north-west of Darwin and 150km south of Timor-Leste.
Whistleblower allegations about the matter prompted the Timor-Leste government to build a case against Australia at The Hague, alleging the bugging had rendered the treaty void.
Wong said the new maritime boundary treaty, signed in 2018, finally reflected an outcome that was “fair and equitable, and consistent with international law”.
This was, she said, “a powerful signal of respect for the rules-based order at a time when those rules are being challenged”.
Wong assured Timor-Leste that Australia was seeking to be “a partner who wants you to have your own, powerful voice, who won’t ask you to toe the line”.
“We have been listening carefully to understand your ambitions for Greater Sunrise, and I can assure you that your commitment to onshore processing and to the south coast Tasi Mane project is clearly understood,” she said.
At a later press conference, Wong was asked how she could justify supporting a big oil and gas project when the world was seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“The global economy is in transition and Australia is in transition,” Wong said.
“I do represent a government that has got very ambitious targets when it comes to climate change and we were elected with a strong mandate to act on climate and we will.
“However, we do also understand the economic imperative for Timor-Leste through this period of time and why Greater Sunrise matters to your people.”
The Australian government also announced it would provide a further $2m in funding to support Timor-Leste’s efforts to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and the World Trade Organization.
