Australia has closed the door on reopening talks with East Timor about a maritime boundary dispute and a carve-up of oil and gas reserves.

East Timor Prime Minister Rui Maria Araujo wrote to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull seeking new negotiations.

Tom Allard – Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has offered to hold "frank and open" discussions with East Timor about the unresolved maritime boundary between the two countries but stopped short of the fledgling state's request for formal and discrete talks to settle the impasse.

Sam King – A large and angry demonstration was held outside the Australian Embassy in Dili on 23 February, against the Australian government's refusal negotiate a permanent international border with East Timor.

Tom Allard – East Timor's president has compared former prime ministers Xanana Gusmao and Mari Alkatiri to the Indonesian dictator Suharto, saying there was "widespread discontent" among the public that their families were benefiting from lucrative government contracts.

John Pilger – Out of a population of almost a million, up to a third were extinguished. Secret documents found in the Australian National Archives provide a glimpse of how one of the greatest crimes of the 20th century was executed and covered up. They also help us understand how and for whom the world is run.

Kupang, E Nusa Tenggara – Ferdi Tanoni, an observer of the Timor Sea issue, expressed support to the people of Timor Leste for demanding the establishment of maritime boundaries and for urging Australia to end its occupation of Timor Sea.

Paulina Quintso – The Director of CAUCUS (Women in Politics) Foundation, Paula Corte Real said the foundation is committed to continue to prepare women with potential for decision making roles.

She said she believes women's potential is never-ending so it is important to enable them to acquire new knowledge every day and to ensure women are represented in decision-making positions.

Thomas Ora, Dili, Timor Leste – About 3,000 people marched to the Australian embassy in the Timor-Leste capital of Dili on Feb. 23, demanding that the Australian government settle a maritime dispute.

The demonstrators walked 500 meters from the Australian-owned Tiger refueling station to the embassy carrying banners that read "We want justice, we want it now."

Paulina Quintso – The Director of Caucus (Women in Politics) Foundation Paula Corte Real urged women's associations across the 12 municipalities to stand firm and work together to encourage women with potential to take a more active role in national development efforts.

[The following statement is from the Movement Against the Occupation of the Timor Sea, a civil society coalition which has organized a peaceful march and vigil in Dili today, across the street from the Australian Embassy.]

A protest action will take place this morning outside the Australian Embassy in Dili, East Timor, calling for the establishment of permanent maritime boundaries along the 'median line' half way between Australia and East Timor.

Daniel Flitton – Protesters have gathered outside Australia's embassy in Dili to demand an end to the bitter dispute with East Timor over undersea oil and gas fields.

"We want Australia to come to the table in good faith," said Juvinal Dias, an organiser for the rally.

Impunity persisted for gross human rights violations committed during the Indonesian occupation (1975-1999). Security forces were accused of arbitrary arrests and unnecessary or excessive use of force during security operations in Baucau district. Levels of domestic violence remained high.

Background

Protesters rallied Tuesday outside the Australian embassy in the East Timor capital Dili, demanding Canberra come to the table "in good faith" to end a long-running dispute over major oil and gasfields in the Timor Sea.

Timor Leste's prime minister has filed a defamation suit against a journalist, who learned of the legal action against him last month.

Bryer C. Sousa – Following Hillary Clinton's recent invocation of the former National Security Advisor and Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, under President Nixon and President Ford, during the most recent Democratic debate, it felt morally obligatory to reflect upon the genocide that began in East Timor, while the Machiavellian Kissinger served as Secretary of State.

Emilia Terzon – From Cyclone Tracy to the Bali bombings, the small tropical city of Darwin has on a few rare, yet memorable occasions become an epicentre of a major international event.

Venidora Oliveira – The National Parliament (NP) approved $28,931 million in the 2016 state budget to improve the welfare of members of the national police force PNTL.

Member of Parliament MP Cesar Valente said police officers make many sacrifices that go largely unrecognised to be present and safeguard the security and freedom of citizens.

Venidora Oliveira – Member of Parliament MP Arao Noe said many village offices established across the 13 municipalities of Timor-Leste that are damaged are still waiting for the government to fix them.

Paulina Quintso – The Director of the National Optical Centre (NOC) Belmeiro Jeronimo said the institution would not provide medical consultations and eye surgery in all municipalities because it does not have sufficient human resources.

Paulina Quintso – The Education Director for the Municipality of Viqueque, Emilio Amaral said in the new school year of 2016-2017 the school feeding program has not yet been implemented because government funds have not yet been released.

Lindsay Murdoch, Bangkok – MPs from East Timor's major political parties are moving to impeach the country's President as tensions rise again in the former Indonesian-controlled island nation.

Daniel Flitton – Not one senior Australian politician has visited East Timor since the Coalition won power in 2013, a dramatic illustration of just how tense the stand-off between the two countries has become. Every other close neighbour has had an Australian minister drop by their capital in the same period, most several times. It's the usual way high-level diplomacy is done.

Tom Allard – Australian diplomats in the Jakarta embassy mocked reports of the rape, torture and execution of East Timorese after the invasion of Indonesia, remarking that it "sounds like fun" and "the population must be in raptures".

The handwritten annotations are on a memo sent to the embassy in November 1976, less than a year after Indonesia seized East Timor by force.

Timor-Leste (East Timor) offers tax advantages and other incentives to those who want to invest in the country and is working to overcome the shortcomings that still exist in terms of legislation, the country's Trade Minister said Thursday in Dili.

Havana – The former President of Timor-Leste, Jose Manuel Ramos-Horta, said today in Havana that no other organization or group of people in the world deserves the Nobel Peace Prize as much as the Cuban medical brigade.

The Timor Sea Justice Campaign will hold a protest action in Melbourne at 12:30pm on Thursday 24 March outside the Department of Foreign Affairs in solidarity with a series of protests taking place outside Australia's embassy in Dili, East Timor.

Angela Macdonald-Smith – US oil giant ConocoPhillips has settled the biggest part of its long-running tax disputes with the Timor-Leste government, clearing the air for potential further investment in the region down the track.

A joint statement issued late Wednesday by the two parties didn't disclose the terms of the settlement, which they said was confidential.

Tanya Plibersek – Australia regularly calls on other countries to abide by international laws and norms to settle disputes. On whaling, on the settling of international trade disputes, and in the 1970s on French nuclear testing, we insist others play by the rules.

Tanya Plibersek's announcement committing a future Labor government to good faith negotiations over a maritime boundary with Timor-Leste, with international dispute settlement in reserve, represents a significant shift in the status quo. The position was foreshadowed by a motion passed at last year's ALP Conference, sponsored by former MP and long-time advocate Janelle Saffin.

Daniel Flitton – East Timor has hinted its international spying case against Australia could be abandoned should the two countries negotiate a new treaty to divide rich undersea oil and gas fields.

Tom Allard – East Timor's Prime Minister has written to his Australian counterpart Malcolm Turnbull asking him to open talks on a permanent maritime boundary between the two countries.

The shift in Labor's position in regard to Australia's long running maritime border dispute with East Timor will likely appeal to diplomatic conventions and notions of equity but, of greater significance, the new policy is also consistent with promoting Australia's long-term geopolitical interests.

Labor shadow foreign minister Tanya Plibersek has committed a future Labor government to negotiations with the Timor Leste government to reach a permanent maritime border between our two countries, and undertaken to hand the issue over to UNCLOS arbitration if an agreement cannot be reached.

Paulina Quintso, – The Inspector General for Labour (IJT) and Secretary of State for Vocational Training Policy and Employment (SEPFOPE) Aniceto Leto Soro said in 2015 some 2,190 foreigners received work permit visas to work in Timor-Leste.

The foreign affairs department was not consulted before Labor announced a new policy to reopen good faith maritime boundary talks with East Timor.

Labor did not consult the foreign affairs department before it pledged to reopen good-faith talks with East Timor on maritime boundaries with Australia.

Venidora Oliveira – The Minister of Public Works, Transport and Communication (MOPTC) Gastso de Sousa said the government has allocated $10 million out of the 2016 state budget for rural roads rehabilitation.

The foreign affairs department insists a decision to deny a passport to a former-spy-turned-whistleblower is not aimed at stopping him from giving evidence in arbitration proceedings in a dispute between Australia and East Timor.

Kate Stanton, Dili, East Timor – Cesar Gaio loves cooking in the open air. He hovers over a gas stove next to the winding road that edges the sea in Dili, East Timor, preparing wraps filled with purple sweet potato and fresh fish.

Today during a National Press Club Address, the Shadow Foreign Minister, Tanya Plibersek, outlined the Australian Labor Party's recently amended policy position regarding the Timor Sea dispute.

Tom Allard – Labor has pledged to submit to international adjudication over the disputed maritime boundary between Australia and East TImor if "good faith" negotiations fail to produce agreement.

Brigid Andersen – Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek says Labor wants to repair Australia's relationship with East Timor by renegotiating the maritime border between the two countries.

Karlis Salna – Australia spent $1 million fighting litigation brought by East Timor over an ASIO raid linked to a dispute over $40 billion of oil and gas reserves.

The December 2013 raid on the offices of the Australian lawyer acting for East Timor, Bernard Collaery, in which documents and electronic data were seized, was authorised by Attorney-General George Brandis.

Paulina Quintso – The President of National Commission Against Child Labour (KNTI) Aniceto Leto Soro said the commission has started conducting a national research program to determine the number of child currently working in Timor-Leste.

[This statement was originally published by SEAPA on 5 February 2016.]

Timor Leste Prime Minister Rui Maria de Araujo filed a defamation lawsuit against a journalist in connection with an article alleging irregularities in a government computerization project.

One of the most startling cases of a government using the fig leaf of national security to protect its own interests is happening right before our eyes – and it should have Australians up in arms.

Jakarta – The governments of Indonesia and Timor Leste, through the Ministries of Defense, have agreed to establish cooperation in the field of defense, in particular education and training.

Venidora Oliveira – The Director of the Directorate of Plenary Support of the National Parliament, Armando Machado said that in 2015, members of parliament were able to pass 10 new pieces of legislation.

He added that some of the laws were proposed by the government while others were proposed by members of the national parliament.

Steve Cannane – Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has intervened in an application by a former senior intelligence agent to have his passport returned, rejecting his application on the grounds he is a threat to national security.

Paulina Quintso – The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (MNEC) Hernani Coelho said in 2016 the number of Timorese female ambassadors will increase.

He added that all Timorese, female and male, have equal rights to become ambassadors and that there are no specific requirements apart from the ability and commitment to serve the country.