East Timor is seeking nullification
of the 2006 treaty, known as CMATS ('certain maritime arrangements in the Timor
Sea'). It was signed by then-foreign minister Alexander Downer and his East
Timorese counterpart Jose Ramos-Horta, and came into force the next year.
CMATS divided revenue 50:50 between
the two countries from the Greater Sunrise oil and gas field, where they both
claim sovereign rights, about 150km south of East Timor and 450km north-west of
Darwin. It contains an estimated $40-50 billion worth of oil and gas.
However, East Timor wants the deal to
be wound back, after a whistleblower revealed that Australia's spy agency ASIS
planted microphones in the Timorese Cabinet room in 2004 while the deal was
being negotiated.
East Timor argues that Australia
broke international law.
On Monday ASIO raided the Canberra
office of former ACT attorney-general Bernard Collaery, a lawyer acting for
East Timor in The Hague, and also raided the alleged whistleblower's home.
The whistleblower was detained for
some hours, and his passport cancelled.
In 2014 the parties will exchange
written pleadings, and there will be an oral hearing later in the year.
On Thursday the ABC reported that the
raid came after East Timor revealed the existence of three more whistleblowers,
possibly connected to the bugging operation, who had also given statements
about it.
If the raid was triggered by
information that came out of the arbitration, it may provide legal grounds for
demanding the return of all material seized in the raid, the ABC reported.
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