Coroner & Legal
East Timor 1, Australia 0.5
Australia has been ordered to cease spying on East Timor and its legal advisers, in a landmark decision by the International Court of Justice relating to a bitter dispute between the two countries over $40 billion of oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea.
The court also ruled that the Australian government must seal documents and data seized in an ASIO raid in December. The ICJ is the United Nations’ top court, and its decisions are binding on members.
The decision is a major setback for Attorney-General George Brandis, who authorised the raid on East Timor’s Australian lawyer Bernard Collaery, where about a dozen agents swooped on his office and took reams of material, including legal documents, electronic files and a statement by a former Australian Secret Intelligence Service agent alleging an eavesdropping operation on the tiny half island nation by Australia.
East Timor suspects the ASIO raid last year was only part of a massive espionage campaign against it by Australia as the impoverished nation seeks to have the treaty between the two countries over the Timor Sea reserves declared invalid by an international arbitration tribunal in the Hague because it was not negotiated in good faith.
The arbitration case of East Timor, also known as Timor Leste, is underpinned by the testimony of the ex-ASIS operative, who alleges that East Timor’s government offices were bugged during treaty negotiations.
The former agent was also targetted by an ASIO raid in December and had his passport seized, preventing him from going to the Hague.
”Australia shall not interfere in any way in communications between Timor Leste and its legal advisers in connection with the pending arbitration under the Timor Sea Treaty of 20 May 2002 between Timor Leste and Australia; with any future bilateral negotiations concerning maritime delimitation; or with any other related procedure between the two states, including the present case before the court,” ICJ president Peter Tomka said.