The Wire

The negotiations between Australia and East Timor over the oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea have hit a low point. Jose Ramos Horta, the East Timorese foreign minister, has even jokingly called for New Zealand to come in and act as a mediator. The Howard government has claimed that the ALP has tried to sabotage the deal. The government is threatening to postpone the next six-monthly meeting until after the federal election. Will Farrell began by talking to Helen Hill, a writer who’s been following issues in East Timor since 1975, and Justice John Dowd, President of the Australian Section of the International Commission of Jurists and NSW Supreme Court.