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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

[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.

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.

Rutaban Yameen – Australia, which promotes itself as the liberator of the tiny nation of Timor-Leste (East Timor), has been ripping the country off.

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.

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.

Paulina Quintso – The Director General of the Ministry of Education Antoninho Pires said that in 2015 the ministry was able to rehabilitate over 300 schools across the whole Timorese territory.

He added that some schools were only renovated while others received additional classrooms and other facilities.

Kupang – The governments of Indonesia and Timor Leste will conduct a joint survey of some border areas in East Nusa Tenggara Province, which are still considered as disputed territory by the two countries.

Thomas Ora, Timor Leste – Pope Francis has appointed Salesian Father Virgilio do Carmo da Silva, the provincial superior of the Timor-Leste province, as the new bishop of Dili, replacing Bishop Alberto Ricardo da Silva, who died of brain cancer last April.

Surabaya – Former prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste (RDTL) Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao visited patients at the Indonesian hospital ship KRI Dr Soeharso (KRI SHS)-990, which is on a health service mission.

Surabaya, East Java – Indonesian navy warship KRI Dr. Soekarso (KRI SHS)-990 has arrived in Dili, Timor Leste, for a health service mission.

Paul Rogers – Two decades on, an inspiring example of successful direct action against powerful states and the arms industry is recalled.

Ina Parlina, Dili, Timor Leste – Jokowi was in Dili on Tuesday, his first trip abroad this year, and met with Timor Leste Prime Minister Rui Maria de Araujo and President Taur Matan Ruak.

Paulina Quintso – The Chief of the Department of Non-infectious Diseases, of the Ministry of Health, Dr Herculano Seixas do Santos has urged the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Environment (MCIA) to raise to $10 per packet of cigarettes.

Paulina Quintso – The Chief of the Department of Non-infectious Diseases, at the Ministry of Health, Dr Herculano Seixas do Santos said now the Tobacco Control Law has been approved by the Timorese Council of Ministers, the ministry has begun socialising its contents to the community.

Jakarta – Timor-Leste President Taur Matan Ruak will bestow the country's highest medal of honor, Grande Colar de Ordem de Timor-Leste, on President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) in a ceremony at the presidential palace in Dili, Tuesday.

President Jokowi, accompanied by First Lady Iriana, is on a state visit to Dili, Ari Dwipayana of the presidential communications team noted in a statement.

Nusa Dua – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo is set to visit Timor Leste on Tuesday to discuss efforts to speed up land and maritime border resolutions, as well as to boost bilateral trade and cooperation on investment, energy and infrastructure, in his first state visit to Dili since he took office.

Jakarta – President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) during his state visit to Timor Leste on Tuesday is expected to discuss the settlement of Indonesian assets in the country, according to a legislator.

Dili (ANTI/Pacific Media Watch) – Human rights advocates have appealed to President Joko Widodo to "end impunity and consolidate democracy" on the eve of his first visit to Timor-Leste today.

Jakarta – President Joko Widodo will visit Timor Leste on Wednesday as a part of a drive to strengthen bilateral relations and development cooperations with the country.

Joko is scheduled for separate meetings with Timor Leste President Taur Matan Ruak and Prime Minister Y.M. Maria de Araujo on Wednesday.

Tom Allard – Malcolm Turnbull's keynote speech in Washington DC last week, the first serious articulation of his foreign affairs stance since becoming prime minister, gained plenty of plaudits on both sides of the Pacific.

Djemi Amnifu and Ni Komang Erviani, Kupang/Denpasar – Indonesian authorities have called on the Timor Leste government to immediately relocate the latter's citizens from a disputed border area between the two countries following Indonesia's discovery of illegal activities in the region that was thought to be uninhabited.

Sarah Marinos – It's a weekday afternoon at Coburg Library and Kirsty Sword Gusmao and her youngest son, Daniel, 11, are browsing. Since she and her three sons settled in Melbourne's northern suburbs last year, the former First Family of East Timor has relished quiet moments like this.

Paul Toohey – East Timorese police have issued a wanted poster for a suspected Islamic State militant they believe has crossed into the country from the Indonesian province of West Timor.

The warning, issued on January 15, the day after the Jakarta attacks by ISIS militants, names the suspect as Fajar.

Ken Westmoreland – Jordan Peterson's piece "Should Timor-Leste Turn to Portugal?" has had the unintended effect of asking a question to which virtually everyone in the country, irrespective of generation or language, will give the same answer: No. (Or, in Tetum and Portuguese, lae and nso!)

Dili – A Chinese Navy task force on Saturday arrived in Dili, capital of Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, to pay a five-day official visit to the country.

"The Tale of the Timorese Coffee Farmer" – Timor-Leste's booth at the 2015 Milan Expo – showcases one of the region's main exports. This exhibition marks the country's biggest international promotion event to date, representing a significant moment for the country's ascension onto the world scene.

Venidora Oliveira – The Deputy Human Rights and Justice Ombudsman (PDHJ) Jesuina Gomes said in 2015 cases amounting to good governance offences registered higher than other types of violations.

She said that in 2015 PDHJ registered 0 cases of good governance violations, even though this was lover that the cases registered in 2014 amounting to 153 cases.

Kupang – The head of the Border Agency of East Nusa Tenggara Province, Paul Manehat, said the settlement boundary issue between Indonesia and Timor Leste can be resolved by involving traditional leaders as part of a socio-cultural approach.

Venidora Oliveira – Member of the National Parliament MP Josefa Alvares Soares urged the President of the National Parliament to schedule the debate of a drug law for Timor-Leste to prevent its future negative impacts on the youth in particular.

Venidora Oliveira – The Vice Minister of Finance Helder Lopes said based on the preliminary results of the Population and Household Census 2015, the Timorese population has grown from 1.066.409 in 2010 to 1.167.242 five years on in 2015.

The Vice Minister added the population growth has been consistent and can be disaggregated by gender with 588.561 males and 578.681 females.

In 1975, Indonesian forces invaded Timor-Leste, heralding an occupation that lasted 24 years and claimed the lives of up to a third of the population. Forty years later, another clash is underway: an internal "history war" over the official narrative of the country's turbulent past.

Jakarta – State lender Bank Rakyat Indonesia plans to re-open its branch office at Timor Leste at the first half of next year, the lender's chief said on Sunday.

John Martinkus – As Indonesian troops fired on a compound of refugees in Dili, John Howard directed the AFP to withdraw. Had they followed orders, they would have left 3000 people to certain death.

Peter Job – In early October the Timor-Leste Prime Minister Rui Maria de Araujo announced that after two years of inconclusive talks his nation was initiating arbitration with Australia on jurisdiction concerning seabed resources in the Timor Sea, which he described as, "an issue of sovereignty and an issue of justice".

The Moreland Council in Melbourne's inner north is the latest Council to call on the Australian Government to immediately enter negotiations with East Timor to establish permanent maritime boundaries in accordance with international law.

Ivo Mateus Goncalves – Forty years has come and gone since East Timor was invaded by Indonesia's military.

On 7 December 1975 Jakarta commenced an occupation of the tiny island that would last 24 years, finally ending in 1999.

Adam Harvey – The 40th anniversary of Indonesia's invasion of East Timor was marked yesterday with a small commemoration at the headquarters of the nation's Kopassus special forces.

The special forces soldiers saw the worst of the fighting in the months following the landings in Dili on December 7, 1975.

East Timor says it's acting on an audit of its agriculture ministry that found irregularities in millions of dollars worth of contracts intended to help East Timor's farmers.

Shane Rosenthal – The impending launch of the Asean Economic Community was marked last month at a summit in Kuala Lumpur. It is a time to showcase Asean's commitment to a region made prosperous through economic cooperation and integration.

Venidora Oliveira – The Director Director for Corporative Services of the Ministry of Education (ME) Antoninho Pires said his ministry continues to lack school inspectors.

He added the ministry currently only has 64 school inspectors for hundreds of schools across the country and because of this some schools have not yet been assessed.

Paulina Quintao – The National Director for Water and Sanitation Services (NDWS) Gustavo da Cruz said currently there some 2000 households connected to the public water grid in the capital Dili are at least half are paying for 24 hour access to clean water.

Paulina Quintao – The Executive Secretary of the National Commission For Combating HIV/AIDS in Timor-Leste (KNKS-TL) Daniel Marcal said his commission is undertaking consultations and meetings about the advantages and disadvantages of localising sex work.

He said that a decision about the issue has not been made and that everyone needs to think about this issue.