Tom
Allard
The
Australian government has agreed to return legal documents and data seized by
ASIO to the East Timorese government.
It
is the latest twist in a row over espionage and a treaty dividing $40 billion
in oil and gas revenues in the Timor Sea.
ASIO
– under the direction of former boss David Irvine and with the approval of
attorney general George Brandis – raided the Canberra office of East
Timor's lawyer Bernard Collaery and home of a former member of Australia's
foreign espionage service in December 2013.
It
followed revelations the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) had
bugged East Timor's government offices during negotiations over the oil and gas
treaty in 2004. Mr Irvine was head of ASIS at the time.
The
ASIS spying, which Australia confirmed during subsequent legal hearings,
underpinned East Timor's bid in arbitration in the Hague to get the oil and gas
treaty declared null and void and begin new negotiations on the maritime
boundaries between the two countries.
The
ASIO raids took place as the arbitration was commencing.
Following
the raids, an irate East Timor took legal action in the International Court of
Justice seeking the return of the documents, among other remedies.
It
accused Australia of an egregious breach of sovereignty and an act of espionage
to gain access to the privileged information of an opponent in an ongoing legal
action.
In
a preliminary ruling, the ICJ took the extraordinary step of requiring
Australia to cease spying on East Timor in relation to the oil and gas talks.
However,
shortly after, the proceedings in the ICJ and the separate Hague
arbitration were suspended at the behest of Australia, with the two parties
entering private negotiations to settle the dispute.
Many
issues remain outstanding but, in a statement released overnight, East Timor
said it "appreciated" a decision to return of the documents and data
seized in the ASIO raids.
"After
16 months of vigorously defending it's [sic] right to take and keep the
documents, the Australian Government has now written to the International Court
of Justice [ICJ] stating that it wishes to return them," East Timor's
spokesman, Agio Pereira said.
"On
the 22nd of April the Court responded to the Australian letter authorising the
return of the documents, still sealed, under the supervision of a
representative of Timor Leste."
The
statement said East Timor "is now reserving its rights", suggesting the
more substantive dispute over whether the Certain Maritime Arrangements in the
Timor Sea [CMATS] Treaty over the oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea is
valid or not remains ongoing.
Mr
Pereira, East Timor's minister of state, applauded Australia's change of
position, but explained "there had been little progress towards a schedule
of structured negotiations on the delimitation of permanent maritime boundaries
in the Timor Sea".
"A
schedule for bilateral talks on maritime boundaries between the two countries
remains undefined," he said, adding the country's new prime minister Rui
Araujo was keen to renegotiate a new maritime border.
The
border, originally negotiated by Australia and Indonesia, the former occupier
of East Timor, placed the largest share of oil and gas in the Timor Sea within
Australia's territorial waters.
However,
a border equidistant between the two nations would give most of the lucrative
oil and gas reserves to East Timor.
The
major known deposit in the Timor Sea, the Greater Sunrise concession, is worth
as much as $40 billion and remains undeveloped.
The
Age - Photo: Andrew Meares
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