Calls for maritime boundaries with East Timor

The Australian government is being urged to agree on permanent maritime boundaries with East Timor.

Then Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and East Timor Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Dr Jose Ramos-Horta after signing the resources treaty in 2006.

The Australian government is being urged to agree on permanent maritime boundaries with East Timor.

It comes amid renewed allegations by the East Timorese government that Australia spied on its ministers during negotiations on the Timor Sea resources treaty in 2004.

The Timor Sea Justice Campaign advocacy group says the agreement to equally split revenue from seabed gas developments came with a condition that East Timor would shelve its claim for permanent maritime boundaries for the next 50 years.

East Timor is pursuing international arbitration to have the 2006 treaty overturned, a process it launched last December after the Australian government failed to respond to earlier surveillance allegations.

The campaign's spokesman Tom Clarke told Santilla Chingaipe about some of the points of contention.

(Click on the audio tab above to hear the full interivew)