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Oil Under Troubled Water: Australia's Timor Sea Intrigue
In May 2018 Bernard Collaery, a former Attorney-General of the Australian Capital Territory and long-term legal counsel to the government of East Timor, was charged with conspiracy to breach the Intelligence Services Act 2001. He was forbidden from talking about the charges against him, but under parliamentary privilege independent MP Andrew Wilkie revealed what has since been described as 'Australian politics' biggest scandal'.
Five years earlier, after ASIO officers raided Collaery's home and office, Collaery told journalists that ASIS had been bugging the East Timorese government during negotiations over Timor Sea oil. He was about to represent East Timor at The Hague in a case against the Australian government and a disaffected senior ASIS agent. That agent, known publicly only as Witness K, had been raided by ASIO and had his passport seized on the same day as Collaery was targeted.
Oil Under Troubled Waters relates the sordid history of Australian government dealings with East Timor and how the actions of both major political parties have enriched Australia and its corporate allies at the expense of its tiny neighbour and wartime ally, one of the poorest nations of the world.
Five years earlier, after ASIO officers raided Collaery's home and office, Collaery told journalists that ASIS had been bugging the East Timorese government during negotiations over Timor Sea oil. He was about to represent East Timor at The Hague in a case against the Australian government and a disaffected senior ASIS agent. That agent, known publicly only as Witness K, had been raided by ASIO and had his passport seized on the same day as Collaery was targeted.
Oil Under Troubled Waters relates the sordid history of Australian government dealings with East Timor and how the actions of both major political parties have enriched Australia and its corporate allies at the expense of its tiny neighbour and wartime ally, one of the poorest nations of the world.
446 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 19, 2020
An excellent, well researched book that takes you through the ostensible negotiated theft from East Timor and Australia citizens of their apparent rights to fair payment for mineral wealth extracted from the Timor Sea.
Bernard Collaery, personally immersed over a great deal of time as a well respected lawyer acting for parties involved in the long standing disputes and negotiations over who gets what, when and where of the oil and gas resources to be extracted from the Timor Sea, a body of water between Australia and Timor.
Among numerous recent tragedies detailed, a significant instance lies in the apparent diminution of an inheritance I thought owed to the people of the poor, newly emerging nation of East Timor.
The focus of the allegation is that the Australian government and its negotiators were aware at relevant times that the petroleum resources under the Timor Sea included the very valuable gaseous element helium. The claim is that by removing two words ‘and inerts’ from what is considered an internationally settled definition of natural gas, commercial interests were not required to pay East Timor and Australia certain duties. The amounts lost to their citizens is estimated in billions of dollars.
Bernard Collaery’s book forensically details the factual basis for the international maritime legal law and subsequent disputes that percolate out of the bedrock of this issue.
The further I got into the book, the more disgusted I became with the allegations of Australia's unfairness and potential unlawful actions, many of which are backed up by solid research. As a barrister, I know proper process is important and that the judiciary are bound by the law our elected officials create. Having been an interested observer, well before visiting East Timor in 1989, my lasting impression is that the wrong people are currently facing trial.
At the time of writing this review, I understand Bernard Collaery is facing a criminal trial in the Australian Capital Territory that is subject to secrecy provisions that result in a great deal of uncertainty as to what wrong doing is alleged. I am sure more will be uncovered over time. No. More accurately, I hope more will be uncovered over time.
There are points in the book that issues such as the alleged bugging of the East Timorese cabinet room by Australian intelligence services that felt surprisingly examined with a very light touch. As I read the book, I developed a sense that major issues were left relatively unreported for reasons that I infer Australia’s current use of security laws deem are not open for public examination.
Oil Under Troubled Water is more than just an excellent survey of East Timor’s troubled history. The book is not only an interesting examination of the historical occupation by colonial Portugal and contemporary Indonesian powers, it is also an astringent examination of the ever diminishing distinctions between certain government actions and commercial interests.
Oil Under Troubled Water is well written and evidences a highly capable lawyer’s depth of research. Akin to a good Shakespearean tragedy, Oil Under Troubled Water is a story that says more about what is unsaid.
The despair it induces if the reader concludes, as I did, that government’s democratically acting in our name, do so with a degree of unfairness to the people of East Timor who offered so much to Australia during World War II, that one is left bewildered. It must be like being hit from behind by your friend. As former Victorian Premier Steve Bracks is quoted as saying, ‘Essential, if difficult, reading for all Australians.’
Please read this book and reach your own conclusions. Talk about what it means to you and your friends. History, colonialism, oil, gas and international law are important issues worthy of attention. Decency is also.
Bernard Collaery, personally immersed over a great deal of time as a well respected lawyer acting for parties involved in the long standing disputes and negotiations over who gets what, when and where of the oil and gas resources to be extracted from the Timor Sea, a body of water between Australia and Timor.
Among numerous recent tragedies detailed, a significant instance lies in the apparent diminution of an inheritance I thought owed to the people of the poor, newly emerging nation of East Timor.
The focus of the allegation is that the Australian government and its negotiators were aware at relevant times that the petroleum resources under the Timor Sea included the very valuable gaseous element helium. The claim is that by removing two words ‘and inerts’ from what is considered an internationally settled definition of natural gas, commercial interests were not required to pay East Timor and Australia certain duties. The amounts lost to their citizens is estimated in billions of dollars.
Bernard Collaery’s book forensically details the factual basis for the international maritime legal law and subsequent disputes that percolate out of the bedrock of this issue.
The further I got into the book, the more disgusted I became with the allegations of Australia's unfairness and potential unlawful actions, many of which are backed up by solid research. As a barrister, I know proper process is important and that the judiciary are bound by the law our elected officials create. Having been an interested observer, well before visiting East Timor in 1989, my lasting impression is that the wrong people are currently facing trial.
At the time of writing this review, I understand Bernard Collaery is facing a criminal trial in the Australian Capital Territory that is subject to secrecy provisions that result in a great deal of uncertainty as to what wrong doing is alleged. I am sure more will be uncovered over time. No. More accurately, I hope more will be uncovered over time.
There are points in the book that issues such as the alleged bugging of the East Timorese cabinet room by Australian intelligence services that felt surprisingly examined with a very light touch. As I read the book, I developed a sense that major issues were left relatively unreported for reasons that I infer Australia’s current use of security laws deem are not open for public examination.
Oil Under Troubled Water is more than just an excellent survey of East Timor’s troubled history. The book is not only an interesting examination of the historical occupation by colonial Portugal and contemporary Indonesian powers, it is also an astringent examination of the ever diminishing distinctions between certain government actions and commercial interests.
Oil Under Troubled Water is well written and evidences a highly capable lawyer’s depth of research. Akin to a good Shakespearean tragedy, Oil Under Troubled Water is a story that says more about what is unsaid.
The despair it induces if the reader concludes, as I did, that government’s democratically acting in our name, do so with a degree of unfairness to the people of East Timor who offered so much to Australia during World War II, that one is left bewildered. It must be like being hit from behind by your friend. As former Victorian Premier Steve Bracks is quoted as saying, ‘Essential, if difficult, reading for all Australians.’
Please read this book and reach your own conclusions. Talk about what it means to you and your friends. History, colonialism, oil, gas and international law are important issues worthy of attention. Decency is also.
July 12, 2020
Former Victorian Premier Steve Bracks launched this book and decided that I should read it. Bracks describes it in a blurb on the front cover as "Essential, if difficult, reading for all Australians". I assumed that it was difficult from a moral/political point of view (which it is), but for me it is difficult because of the way it is written. It is very detailed : nearly 400 pages of very dense foreign policy with different departments and diplomats and acronyms. It's a lawyer writing, not a historian, and fact after fact is rammed through, lest nothing be left out. This is a real insider's book, for someone who already knows the lie of the land and the big picture. That reader is not me.
September 10, 2020
I saw the author speaking about this book earlier this year at Adelaide Writers’ Week and he was very interesting and this story sounded fascinating but unfortunately the book itself was almost unreadable. While what the Australian Government has done to the Timorese people is despicable it was difficult to engage with the book. It is literally packed full of research and jumps around a lot and is written with a lot of legalese. It’s a shame because more people need to hear about this.
August 20, 2021
Bernard Collaery has exposed the East Timor Scandal- Australian agents like Witness K spied on East Timorese diplomats during their Independence struggle, and tried to rip off our small island neighbour and war-time ally, for their fossil fuel wealth. A brave lawyer and writer who exposes Ausralia's international shame.
May 15, 2021
An insightful and informative book about the history of Australian government dealings with East Timor and how our government actively ensured that the Timorese people would not benefit from the natural resources of their own territory.
The machinations that set all this in place start back during World War II and move through until the present day with the Australian government trying to silence Bernard Collaery and the ASIS whistleblower 'Witness K'.
This is a shameful chapter in our history and more people need to be aware how much greed and corporate influence have infected those in power.
The book is very detailed and goes through all of the various policy decisions and unscrupulous politics that brought this about so any reader will need to focus as the detail can get a bit overwhelming but it is well worth sticking it out.
The machinations that set all this in place start back during World War II and move through until the present day with the Australian government trying to silence Bernard Collaery and the ASIS whistleblower 'Witness K'.
This is a shameful chapter in our history and more people need to be aware how much greed and corporate influence have infected those in power.
The book is very detailed and goes through all of the various policy decisions and unscrupulous politics that brought this about so any reader will need to focus as the detail can get a bit overwhelming but it is well worth sticking it out.
June 1, 2023
Essential reading for an insight into Australian diplomacy, which appears to be ‘bully smaller weak neighbours, turn a blind eye to atrocities that Indonesia undertook in Timor Leste’s fight for freedom and the same that Jakarta is doing in West Papua. Why Australia’s diplomats and government ministers feel it’s ok to have a failed state of one million people in its borders and not give them the economic help they need defies logic, as it makes sense to build up a potential trading partner, political friend and is the decent thing to do for a nation that sacrificed so much for Australia and its allies in WWII. Another terrible blight on Australian history, and both sides of politics are guilty of failing Timor Leste and Canberra and its corporate allies are still trying to extract as much as they can from the Sunrise gas field and in return dump Australian CO2 into Timor’s waters. Collaery rightly calls for a rethink by Australia towards Timor Leste.
March 28, 2022
I have to acknowledge owledge that I skim read the last third of the book. I could no longer follow the legalise. I would have prefered that an historian rather than a lawyer had written this. It is so obviously important that Australians know this story but without having to wade through this detail.
September 18, 2021
If you want to know the truth about our government's scandalous treatment of our neighbour, Timor-Leste, then this is for you.
August 25, 2023
Great book, but wordy.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews