Nun challenges media mischief on Timor oil

Nun challenges media mischief on Timor oil
August 6th

CathTelecom Australian Josephite Sr Susan Connolly has expressed her dismay at the “one-sided view” being taken by the Murdoch press in particular on the sea boundaries dispute between Australia and East Timor.

Sr Connolly, of the western Sydney-based Mary MacKillop Institute of East Timorese Studies, is one of Australia’s most respected advocates on behalf of the East Timorese people. She argues that an equitable distribution of access to oil and gas resources in the Timor Sea is “not a matter of charity but justice that the Timorese people receive the benefits of those portions of the resources that are their due”.

In an email distributed on Wednesday, she says that the Murdoch press has presented at least three articles in the past week which are “flawed regarding facts”.

“One [in The Autralian] by Dennis Shanahan on Wednesday [last week] was an opinion piece disguised as a news item,” she said. “These must not go unchallenged, but unfortunately, replies to these mischievous writings are often not published.”

Sr Connolly included her most recent unpublished letter in Wednesday’s email (see link below).

She told the recipients that she had just returned from Timor, “where once again, I met hungry people”.

“We must do all we can to ensure a fair deal for them,” she said.