11,600 Australian Citizens sign Petition to the Parliament to settle the maritime boundary with East Timor

Look how much closer it is to East Timor!

Here is the link folks. If you are an Australian citizen, may I make one last plea to you to sign this historical petition for justice for our impoverished neighbour, Timor-Leste

http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Petitions/House_of_Representatives_Petitions/Petitions_General/Petitions_List?id=EN0232

Update from Sr Susan Connelly; As of today, Friday 21st, we have 11,660 signatures on the paper petition concerning the non-existent border in the Timor Sea.

There is only one week to go, and the signatures need to be with me by Sunday 30 July. (We may be able to squeeze a day or two of grace before we have to get them to Parliament.)

Fantastic effort by so many!  There are sure to be more this coming in week, so we may just make the 15,000.  Please put this petition out too. Am attaching it, just in case.

Many thanks

And many thanks to you Sr Susan for leading the charge against the avaricious global energy corporations and the spineless and spiteful Australian government.

I had a thought that the Australian Government locked itself into a corner when it bargained with Indonesia over maritime boundaries on the continental shelf theory. If it were now to settle the boundary on the contemporary median line principle with East Timor, I'm sure the Indonesians would feel robbed by the deal they made with Australia. Or perhaps its a combination of the energy cartels interests in cohorts with the government that also accumulates ill-gotten revenue from the CMATS Treaty. What a shameful international outlaw Australia is. And a hypocrite to lecture other polities on how they should behave as good citizens of the international community of nations.

And aside from the legal arguments, do we not owe the people of East Timor our utmost support as they struggle to recover from the 24-year long genocide inflicted by the Indonesian State? The revenues from East Timor's sovereign resources is so critical to the national budget and nation building. Australia, like the rest of the world save the Lusophone nations, turned its back on the East Timorese people while they were massacred, raped, tortured, murdered and their culture corrupted and destroyed. Entire groups were murdered. We even collaborated with the Soeharto death cult of the Indonesian Orde Baru. Going so far as to negotiate the Timor Sea Treaty with Indonesia in 1989.

Credit: The Monthly

Recall the broadcasted vision of Ali Alitas and Gareth Evans flying above the Timor Sea drinking champagne and celebrating the agreement. It consolidated Indonesian hegemony in East Timor and acquiesced in the genocide that the Indonesians were perpetrating on the ground.


It is also timely to recall the eternal debt that Australia and our citizens owe to the East Timorese people that arose in WWII when the brave East Timorese people, who readily recognised which side they should support, put their own lives at risk protecting Australian military forces in East Timor during the Japanese invasion.

There are many compelling, rational and ethical reasons why the refusal of the Australian State to settle the maritime boundary with East Timor should not be tolerated.

You can contribute to this campaign for international justice for East Timor by signing the petition.

Here's the link again: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/treaties/1991/9.html