Australia’s most pressing foreign policy dilemma is flying under the radar in Timor-Leste. Falling revenues, stalled gas deals and idiosyncratic leadership are not a good brew for stability or fiscal viability.
The Albanese government’s hand-picked special envoy to the Greater Sunrise gas fields, former Victorian Labor premier Steve Bracks, says Canberra will “leave no stone unturned” in ensuring that East Timor has a viable economic future.
But experts talked to by this column believe that the crazy-brave, arbitrary leadership style of Timor-Leste’s Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, coupled with a dwindling sovereign wealth fund and the distant prospect of new oil revenues, make for an alarming picture.
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James Curran is professor of modern history at Sydney University.
