The Wire

The one big thing going for the troubled country of East Timor is that it sits on billions of dollars worth of oil. It’s a fact that the Australian government and the oil companies have never lost sight of. Since independence the fledgling country has had to play hard ball with Australia to make sure it gets its fair share of that wealth. Paul Cleary was an insider on that bargaining process – he worked on behalf of the World Bank as an advisor to the Timorese government during the oil treaty negotiations. His book Shakedown is tellingly subtitled “Australia’s Grab for Timor’s oil” He says that when East Timor’s fortunes began to change in the late nineties politicians and oil companies were quick to make a move.