Youth Parliament
Welcome to the Youth Parliament information update site.
Rotary International has only recently added New Generations as an avenue of service, although the Youth portfolio has for most Clubs in District 9780, long been their most active area of community service.
Rotary District Governor Brian Trenery has been very encouraging of this Conference's initiative in promoting a forum for the Youth of District 9780. A letter has been sent to all the Rotary District Secondary Schools and the local Primary Schools, asking for them to register their interest in sending two delegates to the Youth Parliament, to be held at Deakin University Warnambool, on Saturday March 24, 2012
As of October 1, 2011 the following schools have registered their interest:
Baimbridge College Hamilton
Ballarat Secondary College
Camperdown College
Casterton Secondary College
Emmanuel College warrnambool
King's College Warrnambool
Koroit and District Primary School
Saint Ignatius College Geelong
Saint Martin's Lutheran College Mount Gambier
Saint Patrick's School Port Fairy
Stawell Secondary College
Warracknabeal Secondary College
Warrnambool Primary School
Woodford Primary School
If you are a teacher or a student and you would like to register your School's interest in sending delegates to the Youth Parliament, please email your contact details and school address to Robert Coffey, Rotary Conference Secretary at coffeyr@tpg.com.au
If you are a Rotarian and your local school has not yet registered, please contact them and encourage them to do so.
The cost per attendee will be $10. Lunch, name badge and certificate of participation will be included for each registrant.
The major theme of the Youth Parliament will be, " Being good neighbours". The two focus studies will be, " Australia's relationship with East Timor" and the " Rural urban divide - in opportunities and quality of life - as it exists in Australia."
Each focus study will be debated in either the morning or afternoon session, depending on when the keynote speakers - Mr Paul Cleary and Professor Margaret Alston - will be available.
Delegates will be asked to submit an essay of up to 500 words which ends with a resolution such as: " This Youth Parliament sponsored by Rotary District 9780, calls on the Federal / State Government to ......."
Essays will be posted on this website to enable delegates to have a full understanding of what resolutions are proposed. Resolutions will be debated formally on the floor of the Youth Parliament. Delegates will be informed of the correct protocols to be followed. It is intended that some Members of Parliament will be present to formally receive Youth Parliament resolutions.
This website will be updated regularly.
If you have any questions which you would like answered please email either of the Co Chairs of the Youth Parliament.
Ms Helen Taylor - helentaylor@jptaylorelectrics.com.au
Ms Janet Macdonald - janetmac7@bigpond.com
Or Conference Secretary, Robert Coffey - coffeyr@tpg.com.au
Update - November 16
Letter sent to schools who have recorded their interest.
Rotary 9780 Conference Committee 2012
Chairman: PP John Harris
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ROTARY DISTRICT 9780 YOUTH PARLIAMENT – SATURDAY 24TH MARCH 2012
Thank you for your response to our earlier letter, in which you have indicated your school is interested in sending students to our Youth Parliament to be held in Warrnambool on 24 March 2012. We shall shortly begin to place conference reading materials on our website (www.rotary9780conference.com.au/) and registrations are now welcome.
As we previously indicated, the theme of the Youth Parliament is Being Good Neighbours. The morning session of the conference will be about Australia’s relationship with one of its nearest neighbours, East Timor. The guest speaker, Paul Cleary, will focus on World War II and more recent times, particularly the negotiations between the two countries over the oil and gas deposits in the Timor Sea. Students are invited to think about their own neighbours and note what makes a good or bad neighbour. What actions and activities might be considered neighbourly and what would be seen as unfriendly? Should neighbouring countries treat one another as if they were urban or rural neighbours? How might an East Timorese look at Australia? Has Australia been a good or bad neighbour for East Timor? How? Is there anything that your students want to say to Australia’s Foreign Minister, Mr Kevin Rudd, regarding Australia’s relationship with East Timor? Do your students want their thoughts to become a resolution, endorsed by the Youth Parliament and sent to Mr Rudd? We hope so.
The afternoon session will be about life in rural and regional communities in Australia. In preparation for that session, we would like to ask all students attending the Parliament to either write, film or record a short statement which reflects on life in their own community. Students may wish to work in pairs to complete this task, or submit individual pieces. They should be brief (200-500 words/ 1-2 minutes). Please ask them to ensure names/school appear prominently on anything they send in . Items can be sent electronically or by post. If electronically, ask students to please ensure they use standard file formats. Items can be sent anytime up until the end of February 2012. We will be posting submissions on our website in the lead up to the Parliament.
Some questions they might like to address in their submissions are:
- What are the main advantages/disadvantages of living in your community?
- Is your life typical of the way Australians live?
- What changes would you like to see in your community to make it a better place to live?
This event is occurring early in the new school year and we know how hectic the start to a new year is. We are sending this information to you now as we think it may make a suitable end of year activity for the students whom you have chosen to attend the Parliament.
Please ask your nominated students to check our website regularly, bookmark it, and to begin reading some of the Timor material to assist with their understandings of the issues.
Yours faithfully,
Brian Trenery
9780 District Governor
Rotary Youth Parliament District 9780
Saturday March 24th 2012 Registration Form
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Please complete the following registration form for each student involved from your school, and when complete post to the address below. Remember to include your cheque for $10 for each student participating from your school.
SchoolName:______________________________________________________________________
School Address:___________________________________________________________________
School Principal:__________________________________________________________________
Contact Staff member:____________________________________________________________
Email address for contact staff person:_________________________________________________
Name & Contact details for adult(s) travelling with student(s)
Student’s name:___________________________________________________________________
D.O.B____________________________Male/Female_____________YearLevel:___________
Special dietary needs for students or staff/parents attending:
(Lunch will be a BBQwith vegetarian options. There will also be salad rolls available and soft drinks) Morning and afternoon tea will also be provided.
Please post registration form and cheque to:
Rotary Youth Parliament P.O. Box 135 Warrnambool, Vic 3280. Thank you.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ROTARY REGIONAL YOUTH PARLIAMENT –
THEME- Being Good Neighbours
MORNING SESSION-
The morning session of the conference will be about
Students may write an article, essay, poem, or song lyric about Australia's relationship with East Timor. If you would like a resolution to be passed by this Youth Parliament to be conveyed to the Australian Federal Government, then propose a resolution beginning with:
"We the Youth Parliament of Rotary District 9780, call on the Australian Government to.............."
Suggested reading:
Australian Forces in
2/2nd Independent Company ( from Australian War Memorial,
Fighting in Timor, 1942 (from Australian War Memorial,
The Blessed Curse ( from New Internationalist, Vol 361, 0ctober 2003)
Background on
Simply...A brief history of
AFTERNOON SESSION: LIVING IN RURAL & REGIONAL
The afternoon session will be about life in rural and regional communities in
Don't forget to end your piece with a resolution beginning..." We the Youth Parliament of Rotary District 9780, call on the State and Federal Governments to .........."
Students may wish to work in pairs to complete this task, or submit individual pieces. You should be brief (200-500 words/ 1-2 minutes). Please make sure names/school appear prominently on anything you send to us. Items can be sent by email or by post. If emailing please use standard file formats. Items can be sent anytime up until the end of February 2012. We will be posting submissions on our website in the lead up to the Parliament. Please bookmark our site and keep checking for updates in the lead up to the conference.
www.rotary9780conference.com.au
Some questions you might like to address in your submissions are:
· What are the main advantages/disadvantages of living in your community? Consider how people of different ages, or disability or cultural backgrounds might respond to this question. Consider the cost of living for housing and transport. Consider employment opportunities and health provision and education. Consider the sense of community and the value of belonging.
· Is your life typical of the way Australians live? If you lived in Melbourne - how different would your life be compared to where you live?
· What changes would you like to see in your community to make it a better place to live?
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Fighting in Timor, 1942
Three months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese occupation of south-east
Asia reached its southern limit with the invasion of Timor on 20 February 1942. At the
time the island was divided between two colonial powers, the Dutch in the west and the
Portuguese in the east. As early as February 1941 Australia had agreed with Dutch and
British officials that Allied troops, under Australia's command, would reinforce Timor
should Japan enter the war. Thus "Sparrow Force", as the Allied presence on Timor was
known, landed on the island five days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This
was part of a strategy of seeking to defend forward airfields and also involved deploying
"Lark Force" at Rabaul and "Gull Force" at Ambon.
Although agreeing to garrison Timor with troops, Allied commanders did not envisage a
large-scale Japanese attack on the island. Nor did they have the agreement of the
Portuguese to occupy the eastern part of the island; the colonial administration took the
"extravagantly optimistic view" that Japanese forces would respect Portuguese
neutrality. (Koepang) Kupang, the centre of Dutch rule, was the focus of the Japanese
attack. Facing them were troops from the Australian 2/40th Battalion, a squadron of
Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Hudson bombers, a battery of Australian coast
artillery, and 1,000 Dutch troops. Surrounded and short of ammunition, they held out for
four days but were forced to surrender on 23 February. A Japanese force had also been
sent against Dili, the Portuguese capital, where it faced only limited resistance, but,
importantly, forstalled the planned arrival of Portuguese troops between 19 and 20
February. A further 250 men of the Australian 2/2nd Independent Company had been
sent to the Portuguese part of the island before the Japanese attack. They did not
directly oppose the invasion but acted as a guerrilla force. After the surrender of the
main Allied force around Koepang, 140 members of the 2/40th and some Dutch troops
were able to avoid the encirclement; some were handed to the Japanese by West
Timorese, while the remainder made their way across the island to join the 2/2nd.
Timor's rugged terrain offered ideal conditions for guerrilla warfare, but the early success
of these operations was made possible by the support of the Timorese people, who
provided food and shelter, ponies for carrying heavy equipment, acted as porters and
guides, and helped set up ambushes. Some took up arms themselves and fought
alongside the Australians. Many Timorese were executed by the Japanese for providing
Emergency rations and field dressingassistance to the guerrillas. Assistance also came from the Portuguese who, as
representatives of a neutral country, had been allowed to maintain order in their colony.
Maintaining a supply line to the Australians on Timor was always difficult. On 27 May
1942 the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) began what was to become a regular run from
Darwin to Timor to resupply and reinforce the troops. It was during the landing of the
2/4th Independent Company at Betano on 23 September 1942 that HMAS Voyager went
fast aground and was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The vessel had to be destroyed. On
1 December 1942 HMAS Armidale was sunk by Japanese air attacks while attempting to
land Dutch troops as part of an operation to relieve the 2/2nd. Vessels of the RAN and
the Dutch Navy ran the gauntlet of Japanese bombers throughout the period of
Australian operations on Timor.
Emergency rations and field dressing
AWM RELAWM28071
From July 1942 the Japanese launched a series of operations to destroy the Australians
and their Timorese allies. Around this time the 2/2nd received reinforcements from
Australia in the form of the 2/4th Independent Company; Australian troops on the island
now numbered about 700. The Japanese had also increased the size of their garrison
and, recognising the extent to which the Australians depended on the help of the
Timorese people, sought to take advantage of divisions among the local inhabitants.
Timorese from the Dutch colony were brought over to convince those in the east to
break ties with the Australians. Japanese attempts to cause discord between the
Timorese and the Portuguese administration also worked to the detriment of the
Australians. By October Portuguese control had been largely eliminated, and in
November the Japanese ordered the internment of all Portuguese on the island.
During November 1942, the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) and the RAAF offered
some respite to the Australians on Timor. Marauder and Beaufighter aircraft became
available for attacks on Japanese positions and shipping, supplementing the small
number of RAAF Hudsons that had soldiered on since the beginning of the campaign.
Winnie the war winnerAs Japanese pressure increased, guerrilla operations became more difficult. The
intelligence provided by local people began to dry up and, from the beginning of
December 1942, operations were wound down. Early that month the 2/2nd evacuated
190 Dutch troops and 150 Portuguese, who sought refuge in Australia, before leaving
the island between 10 and 16 December. After their departure, the position of the 2/4th
became untenable and it too was evacuated on the night of 9–10 January 1943, lifted by
HMAS Arunta. The "Z" Lancer group, from Special Operations Australia, left Timor on 10
February 1943, picked up by the submarine USS Gudgeon.
The radio set, “Winnie the war winner”, named after Winston Churchill, was constructed by signalman
Joe Loveless to allow the 2/2nd Independent Company to remain in contact with Australia.
AWM RELAWM20434
After that date Australian commandos from "Z" Special Unit and Australian-trained
Timorese continued to land in Timor under the aegis of the Services Reconnaissance
Department. Operations were compromised when the Japanese captured the first party
and recovered its code books. Using the captured codes the Japanese were able to
decieve Australian authorities into believing that the commandos had successfully
established themselves. They were also able to arrange for stores to be dropped and
successive groups of commandos landed. They were quickly captured and any Timorese
suspected of assisting those who tried to avoid capture were punished.
Apart from the activities of "Z" Special Unit, Australian operations in Timor lasted just
under a year. Although of little positive strategic value, the operations demonstrated the
effectiveness of guerrilla warfare tactics against the Japanese. It was also a matter of
morale; even in the face of apparent Japanese ascendancy, Australian troops fought on.
After the war an Australian survivor of the year long guerrilla campaign commented that
without the help of the creados, Timorese who assisted the Australians, the guerrilla
campaign could not have been conducted the way it was. Another said, "they were so
good, the creados, they risked their lives all the time for us, it shamed you really."
FELO leaflet: 7/9/32 frontpage of PG9Propaganda leaflets produced by FELO (Far East Liaison Office) and dropped on
Portuguese Timor late in the Second World War. They assure the Timorese that
Australians are their friends and that Allied forces are coming to recapture the country
from the Japanese.
"Your friends do not forget you"
FELO leaflet: 7/9/32 frontpage of PG9
FELO leaflet: 7/9/32 PG6
"People of Timor: You remember when the Australian soldiers were in Timor they were your friends. For
a time they had to leave you. But one day they will return, to drive the Japanese away forever ..."
FELO leaflet: 7/9/32 PG6
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2/2nd Independent Company
2/2nd Independent Company
Having completed its training at Foster, on Wilson.s Promontory, Victoria, the 2nd
Independent Company was raised and travelled north to Katherine, in the Northern
Territory. However, following Japan.s entry into the war, as with the other independent
companies that were sent to the islands off Australia, the 2nd was sent to Timor, where
it joined the 2/40th Battalion and the rest of Sparrow Force.
Sparrow Force divided itself between west Timor, part of the Netherlands East Indies,
and east Timor, which belonged to Portugal. The 2/40th Battalion defended the capital of
west Timor, Koepang, and the airfield at Penfui. Most of the independent company
moved to the airfield at Dili, in east Timor, and the nearby mountains.
Portugal was opposed to the stationing of a Dutch or Australian garrison in case this
provoked the Japanese, but despite this opposition, on 17 December 1941, elements of
the 2nd Independent Company and Dutch troops landed near Dili. On 20 February 1942
the Japanese invaded the island, attacking east and west Timor simultaneously. The
2/40th Battalion held out for three days, but were overrun and were killed or captured.
Similarly, the 2nd could not hold the airfield and were also driven back. But they were
not captured and instead retreated to the mountains where they conducted a very
successful and pursued a guerrilla war against the Japanese which lasted for over a year.
Following the capture of Timor, the 2nd occupation the company was listed as “missing”,
the company.s signallers were able to build a wireless transmitter, nicknamed „Winnie
the War Winner., and on 18/19 April were able to contact Darwin.
At the end of May RAN vessels began landing supplies for the Australians on the south
coast of east Timor. These supply runs were very dangerous but they allowed the
Australians on Timor to continue fighting. In September the guerillas were reinforced
with the 2/4th Independent Company.
However, this could not go on indefinitely. In August the Japanese lunched a major
offensive against the guerrillas and Japanese reprisals against the civilian population of
east Timor reduced their support for the Australians. The 2nd (now named the 2/2nd
Independent Company) and 2/4th were withdrawn in December and January 1943
respectively.
Although the 2/2nd Independent Company is best known for its time on Timor, it also
saw extensive service in New Guinea and New Britain. The independent company
reformed at the army.s training centre at Canungra, Queensland, where it was reinforced
and reequipped. The company then moved to the Atherton Tableland, where it briefly
became part of the 2/6th Cavalry (Commando) Regiment. Due to this reorganisation, in
October, the 2/2nd Independent Company was renamed the 2/2nd Cavalry (Commando)
Squadron. This name was later simplified to just commando squadron. When this
happened though, the 2/2nd was back in action.
In June 1943 the 2/2nd sailed from Townsville for Port Moresby and was subsequently
flown to Bena Bena, in the Bismark Range in New Guinea.s highlands. Here they
supported the 2/7th Independent Company in patrolling the Ramu River area. In the
second week of July the 2/2nd moved into position, with its headquarters at Bena Bena
and with its platoons. occupying neighbouring positions. By the end of the month their
patrols were skirmishing with the Japanese. The 2/2nd remained in New Guinea until
October 1944.
After 90 days leave, the squadron reformed at Strathpine in Queensland before sailing to
New Britain in April 1945. The 2/2nd landed at Jacquinot Bay on 17 April. The squadron
then moved to Wide Bay, in order to support the 13th Brigade of the 5th Division, and
was based at Lamarien.
Following Japan.s surrender and the end of the war, the ranks of the squadron thinned
quickly as men were discharged or transferred to other units. For those who were left,
they returned to Australia and in early 1946 the 2/2nd Commando Squadron was
disbanded.
Battle Honours
. nil
Casualties
. 22 died
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The Blessed Curse
[image, unknown][image, unknown][image, unknown][image, unknown][image, unknown]The blessed cursePhoto: Quinton Tembyhttp://www.newint.org/archive/images/issue/361/pics_pipe_1.gifhttp://www.newint.org/archive/images/issue/361/pics_pipe_3.gif The Bayu-Undan Pipelinehttp://www.newint.org/archive/images/issue/361/pics_pipe_6.gifhttp://www.newint.org/archive/images/issue/361/pics_pipe_7.gifhttp://www.newint.org/archive/images/issue/361/pics_pipe_9.gifNew Internationalist 361 October 2003
Quinton Temby exposes the negotiations to
pipe oil and gas away from East Timor - and
the profit and jobs that flow away with them.
Photo: Quinton Temby
Length of proposed pipeline: 500
kilometres from the Bayu-Undan gas field,
Timor Sea to Darwin, Australia.
Corporate owners: ConocoPhillips
(project operator), with co-venturers
AGIP, Santos and INPEX.
Cost of building: estimated at $500
million, plus $1 billion for the liquid
natural gas (LNG) plant in Darwin which it
connects to.
Volume of gas transported: up to 750
million cubic feet of gas per day.
Countries to which gas is to be exported:
3 million tons of LNG a year to Japan from
2006 for 17 years.
As development of the rich oil and natural gas reserves in the Timor Sea near East
Timor takes off, the Government hopes that investment by oil-industry giants will bring
the petroleum onshore for processing. Ten thousand jobs could be created and untold
billions of dollars added to the Gross Domestic Product. The potential investment, it
says, represents ‘genuine national-interest considerations that may well outweigh
royalty and tax-revenue benefits’. But this government hype is from Australia’s
Northern Territory, where gas from the Timor Sea will be piped. The only benefits to
the national interest will be Australia’s.
What then of East Timor? Australia’s northern neighbour is indeed reliant on its cut of
the Timor Sea royalties to transform it from the poorest country in Asia to a viable,
independent nation. In the first major development, at Bayu-Undan, gas will be
extracted by US oil company ConocoPhillips, piped to Australia for processing and
then shipped to Japan for sale.
East Timor will receive about three billion US dollars in royalties and taxation over the
17-year life of the project. But with all the investment set to occur in Australia, some
observers are concerned East Timor is missing out on its best chance yet to jump-start
development.
The oil companies claim that a pipeline to East Timor – unlike one to Australia – isn’t
technically feasible. But Australian oil-industry engineer Geoffrey McKee cites one
engineering study that concluded it would not only be feasible but cheaper than a
pipeline to Australia.
He believes that the oil companies have ‘grossly misled’ East Timor about the viability
of a pipeline. In a submission to the Australian Parliament, he wrote: ‘This has deprived
East Timor of the most important nation-building benefit to be derived from its Timor
Sea resources, namely infrastructure and an energy-export industry located on her
shores.’
Veteran campaigners for East Timor’s independence, like Australian agricultural
scientist Rob Wesley-Smith, see the justice in East Timor taking delivery of its own
resources. He says that a pipeline could deliver gas to generate electricity, halting the
massive deforestation that began when people lost access to subsidized Indonesian fuel
and turned to their trees for firewood. Gas would also be a much cleaner source of
energy than the current system of diesel-powered generators.
But the push for a pipeline is destined to turn into a dispute between East Timor on one
side and Australia and the oil companies on the other. In the next major Timor Sea
development of the Greater Sunrise reserves, Australia supports a plan by Shell to
process the gas it extracts on the world’s first floating processing platform. By contrast,
a pipeline that will bring the gas to its shores is East Timor’s ‘preferred option’.
Preferred by Government, but not by NGOs. Lao Hamutuk, an NGO that monitors
international institutions in East Timor, is wary of encouraging the oil industry. After
hosting a delegation from the Ecuador-based Oilwatch Network last year, they wrote in
their bulletin: ‘oil and gas dependent countries are characterized by high child
mortality, malnutrition and disease, poor education and illiteracy, corruption,
authoritarianism, vulnerability to economic shocks and high military spending. East
Timor already has some of these problems as a result of colonialism, occupation and
war – but oil money alone will not solve them. In fact, the experience of other countries
shows that it often makes them worse.’
By contrast the East Timorese Government says it isn’t in a position to dispense with
oil and gas development. It’s trying to build a nation from the ruins of Indonesian
colonialism and is dependent on donor countries to fund its meagre budget. Generosity
waned in the lead-up to formal independence last year, when international donors began
to demand an ‘exit strategy’. Initially, they put pressure on East Timor to take out
World Bank loans. But East Timorese leaders saw this could compromise their entire
development strategy. According to Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, they agreed instead
to cut the budget by 45 per cent and have it tied to the immediate development of the
Timor Sea. ‘It was not easy to make this decision,’ Alkatiri recalled in a conference
with international activists. ‘[But] if you don’t want loans and if you don’t get real
money from donor countries, you can’t really govern this country.’
Disagreement about whether pipelines should run north to East Timor or south to
Australia is only part of a more fundamental and on-going dispute between the region’s
poorest and richest country over sovereignty in the Timor Sea. It began when East
Timor was a Portuguese colony, and took a turn in Australia’s favour when, in 1975,
Indonesia was poised to invade East Timor. In a secret cable two months before the
invasion, Australia’s Ambassador to Indonesia, Richard Woolcott, encouraged his
Government to support the invasion because boundaries could be much more easily
negotiated with Indonesia than either Portugal or an independent East Timor. This
support would, he said, be in the interests of the Department of Minerals and Energy.
Woolcott was right. In 1989, after protracted negotiations, the Australian and
Indonesian Governments signed the Timor Gap Treaty, carving up the oil and gas
reserves. The treaty appeared to be a generous trade-off with Australia, in return for
diplomatic support for Indonesia’s illegal occupation of East Timor. For supporters of
East Timor it was the ultimate blood-for-oil deal, which sacrificed the fate of a whole
people for financial gain. For East Timor’s guerrilla leader and future president,
Xanana Gusmao, it was a ‘total betrayal’ in which Australia had been an accomplice to
genocide in order to secure its oil and gas interests in the Timor Gap.
Australia’s diplomatic support for Indonesia was only punctured by protests in 1999,
after East Timor’s UN-sponsored vote for independence was followed by violent
military retribution. In September 1999 Australian-led UN peacekeepers entered East
Timor to usher out Indonesian troops and secure the country. Only two months later,
with East Timor still smouldering, Australia received its first big windfall from the
Timor Sea as billions of dollars of oil began pumping out of the highly disputed
Laminaria and Corallina reserves. At this time East Timor must have been the most
devastated nation on Earth. Seventy per cent of its infrastructure had been destroyed
and most of its people had been driven from their homes. According to the United
Nations Development Programme, East Timor had the lowest income per head in the
world.
Nevertheless, from 1999 to 2002 the Australian Government took an estimated $1.2
billion in revenue from Laminaria-Corallina. For the same period Australia gave East Timor $200 million in aid.
Despite this theft of East Timor’s resources at such a critical
stage of its development as a nation, Australia’s Prime Minister John Howard describes
his country’s role in East Timor’s independence as ‘without question the most positive
and noble act by Australia in the area of international relations in the last 20 years.’
While East Timor was a UN protectorate, Australia also pressured it into adopting
essentially the same treaty it had enjoyed with Indonesia. On 20 May 2002 – East
Timor’s first official day of independence – the new Timor Sea Treaty was signed. Its
main effect is that, despite the end of the Indonesian occupation, Australian control of
the Timor Sea is perpetuated. According to Vaughan Lowe, Professor of International
Law at Oxford University, the treaty will prevent East Timor from establishing its
rightful maritime boundaries in accordance with international law. As a consequence,
oil-industry engineer Geoffrey McKee estimates that almost 60 per cent of East
Timor’s resources – some $20 billion worth of oil and gas – will go to Australia.
In spite of this, East Timor is determined to regain its maritime territory occupied by
Australia. However, the arguable Australian claim that the seabed is part of its
continental shelf cannot be legally tested. In March 2002, when East Timor looked like
it could challenge Australia in the International Court of Justice, Australia abruptly
withdrew from the court’s jurisdiction on maritime boundaries.
Prime Minister Alkatiri described this as ‘an unfriendly act’. Since then, relations
between the two nations have deteriorated further. Alkatiri has said he will attempt to
block development of the Greater Sunrise field until Australia agrees to negotiate on
maritime boundaries. ‘Just as we fought to protect our right to our land, we must fight
to preserve our right to our sea,’ he told parliament recently.
While the dispute between the two countries is stirring the same defiant nationalism in
East Timor that marked its long struggle for independence, Australia’s attitude appears
unrepentantly colonial. Australia’s Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, once arrived
in the capital, Dili, at short notice and charged into East Timor’s cabinet room with an
imposing entourage. A leaked transcript of that meeting reveals Downer warning Prime
Minister Alkatiri: ‘We are very tough. We will not care if you give information to the
media. Let me give you a tutorial in politics.…’
Paradoxically, Alkatiri has an even worse relationship with the leading Australian
supporters of East Timor than he does with the Australian Government. While
Australian activists have lobbied against their country’s bullying of East Timor, they’ve
also been critical of the way Alkatiri has handled the oil and gas negotiations. The last
straw for Alkatiri was in June last year when an expatriate Australian organized a
demonstration over the Timor Sea Treaty outside East Timor’s Parliament. Attending
an oil-industry conference in Australia at the time, Alkatiri announced that he would
draft legislation to prevent foreigners from protesting in East Timor. Initially passed by
the Parliament, it was vetoed by the President as ‘unconstitutional’. It now awaits a
decision by Parliament. If passed it will allow for foreigners to be deported if they
‘organize or participate in demonstrations, processions, rallies and meetings of a
political nature’.
For a nation founded on political activism – in alliance with an international solidarity
movement that saw East Timorese take their protest around the world – it’s a sad irony.
With East Timor attempting to co-exist with powerful and often hostile Indonesian and
Australian neighbours, popular and activist support in these countries is indispensable.
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Youth Parliament delegates are encouraged to read a short history of East Timor by going to the following website of New Internationalist. http://www.newint.org/features/1994/03/05/simply/
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Work sheet to use in conjunction with Rotary Youth Parliament reading materials for March 24 , 2012.
· Consider the following definitions and ideas of Neighbours and Neighbourhoods (sourced from Wikipedia) then respond with your own ideas and opinions.
Your local neighbourhood
A neighbour is a dweller next-door, near or in the same street, or village, or district, or in adjacent country, and regarded as one who should be friendly.
A neighbourhood is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town or suburb. Neighbourhoods are often social communities with face-to-face interaction among members. A neighbourhood is generally defined as a specific geographic area and functions as a set of social networks.
Neighbourhoods exist where human beings congregate, in permanent family dwellings. Strong and cohesive neighbourhoods and communities are linked – to decrease crime, better outcomes for children and improve mental and physical health.
What do you know about your local neighbourhood (residential community)? Can you define it geographically? Can you describe it?
In your opinion are there any special features that make your neighbourhood or neighbours special/unique?
There is a saying, “Strong fences make good neighbours.” To what extent do you agree/disagree with this saying? According to this saying what is a good neighbour?
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Is this the policy that sometimes best describes how countries treat their neighbours? Can you provide examples? Is this a good way for neighbouring countries to interact?
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Neighbourhood regions
We can also think about our regional geographic location in terms of neighbourhoods. We can think about our neighbours in terms of continents, near neighbours, trading neighbours, cultural neighbours, sharing a common interest and so on.
Sometimes neighbouring countries share common values and responsibilities for one another.
Make a list of the countries that are
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Were you right? Read on to find out…
The continent of
Neighbour nations
Choose two of
What things do we share? (natural resources, knowledge, investment, defence, food, sport, financial aid, medicine, music, trade, history, agriculture, economic development…….people?) Do we share things equally? If not, why not? What should we share?
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What things do we have in common?
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How do we differ?
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What things might we disagree about?
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What history do we share with our neighbours?
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How does this history affect our relationship?
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In your opinion, has
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Has
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If you were
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Neighbours – Rural and Urban, Town and Country
So far, we have looked at neighbours in the international context, now we look at neighbours in terms of Cities, towns, hamlets and farms. Can we apply the same questions that we asked about
What do you share with people in
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Do we share these things equally? ………….What things are shared inequally?
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Do we have the same access? Are the costs the same? Is this fair?
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What things might we disagree or argue about?
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John Stuart Mill argued that democracies are about “the tyranny of the majority.” Can the needs of rural people ever hope to be as equally met as the needs of urban people by State and Federal Governments? Why or why not?
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In the relationship that exists between neighbours – when the neighbours are not equal, how does this affect the relationship?
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If you were the State Premier or Minister for Regional Development what rural priorities or challenges would you identify which require Government assistance?
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