Australia And The Maritime Boundaries Of Timor Leste

EDM number 1285 in 2015-16, proposed by Kirsten Oswald on 21/03/2016.
Categorised under the topics of Australasia, International law and Marine environment.

That this House recognises the right of all nations to legally binding maritime boundaries; notes with disappointment that, almost 14 years after international recognition of Timor Leste, East Timor as an independent state, the Australian Government has refused to agree permanent maritime boundaries with Timor Leste in accordance with current international law; records its concern that Australia has withdrawn its recognition of the maritime boundary jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal of the Laws of the Sea, in order to deprive Timor Leste of legal avenues to assert its rights as an equal member of the international community; expresses solidarity with the Timorese people, whose long, determined and inspirational struggle to become an independent and sovereign nation will not be complete until Australia gives up control of those parts of the Timor Sea, and associated oil and gas reserves that, under international law, should lie entirely within Timor Leste's Exclusive Economic Zone; and backs calls by the Australian-based Timor Sea Justice Campaign for the Australian government to return to the negotiating table and to give Timor Leste, the second poorest country in Asia, a fair go.

This motion has been signed by a total of 32 MPs.