Sam McMahon (NT, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is not my first speech. I would like to say how important Timor-Leste is to my home territory of the Northern Territory. It is our nearest neighbour; it is only a one-hour flight from Darwin. We have had strong cultural, sporting and economic links, going back decades—in fact, even further back than that, with trading with our Indigenous peoples. I've had the good fortune to travel there on a couple of occasions. It's a wonderful country. It's surrounded by magnificent coral reefs, warm azure waters, rainforests, mountains and fertile farmlands.

The people themselves are great people. They're amazingly resilient. But they've clearly been beaten time and time again by various foreign nations, including, ashamedly, our own. I've heard many accounts and, in fact, been shown around parts of Dili by people that still today carry bullets from the massacre that occurred there. Whilst they don't harbour resentment towards us, there's great suspicion. But they're willing to give us a chance. They're willing to give us a chance to step up and to do the right thing by them.

On 6 March, Australia and Timor-Leste signed an historic treaty, and this is what we are talking about today. It gives clarity on the ownership of maritime resources in the Timor Sea and is important for Timor-Leste's economic future. We need permanent maritime boundaries. It reflects Australia's commitment to their independent sovereignty and economic sustainability. We need to be magnanimous and generous in our dealings with our closest neighbour. Dili is, in fact, a sister city to my home capital of Darwin, and has been since 2003, and shares a special place in our hearts.

The economy of the country is basically subsistence. You will still see fields tilled by ploughs drawn by buffalo, families supported by a few chickens and a couple of goats and coastal communities fishing to feed themselves. There are very rudimentary farming practices. This is their opportunity to reap what's rightly theirs and grow and develop their economy, their lifestyle, their education and is the people's march out of poverty.

The amendments are technical and mostly designed to ensure that existing petroleum operations in the Timor Sea can continue under conditions equivalent, as required by the treaty. This government has consulted closely with the affected companies and with Timor-Leste in drafting the amendments. I commend this to the Senate.