The Adelaide Advertiser, 5 July 2005. www.theadvertiser.news.com.au

Timor protesters target Downer

PROTESTERS will hold oil-filled champagne glasses outside a reception for Foreign Minister Alexander Downer in Melbourne today.

Their aim is to highlight what they see as Australia's greed in oil and gas negotiations with East Timor.

Mr Downer, who is addressing the Australian-American Association and the Australian Institute of International Affairs, will be met by the protesters when he arrives at the Collins Street venue this afternoon.

The Timor Sea Justice Committee (TSJC) and the Melbourne Stop the War Coalition are calling on the Federal Government to commit to negotiations for a permanent maritime boundary with East Timor.

TSJC co-ordinator Tom Clarke said that, without the boundary, Australia had been able to take $2 billion in gas and oil royalties since 1999 that should have been East Timor's.

Two protesters will pretend to drink from champagne flutes fashioned out of oil cans to highlight their message today.

The gas and oil reserves, estimated to be worth at least $40 billion, will be on the agenda when Mr Downer meets East Timor President Xanana Gusmao in Sydney on Thursday.

Under a deal thought to be close to completion, East Timor will receive a share of revenues from the Greater Sunrise oil and gas field, as well as a 90 per cent share of revenues from the Joint Petroleum Development Area.

But there is some confusion over just how much each country will make out of the deal.

While officials put the value of the Greater Sunrise field alone at around $9 billion, the TSJC says it could be worth over $40 billion based on present oil prices and future projections.

AAP.

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