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Gillard May Discuss Timor Gas to Win Asylum Support

09 July 2010 04:30 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said she is willing to discuss a disputed natural gas project in East Timor to help win support for a regional processing center in that country for asylum seekers, APA reports quoting businessweek.com website.
Woodside Petroleum Ltd.â€™s planned Sunrise gas project can be part of the negotiations if raised by East Timor, Gillard told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.â€™s Lateline program last night. East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao said he is â€œopen-minded and open for discussionâ€ on the center being located in his nation, Agence France Presse reported today.
â€œIâ€™m not promising a quick fix, Iâ€™ve said that this is going to take time, but I am determined to relentlessly pursueâ€ the center, Gillard said.
East Timor has clashed with project operator Woodside, which favors a floating plant, over how to develop the liquefied natural gas venture. A processing facility in East Timor will generate jobs and â€œcatapultâ€ the economy, according to the countryâ€™s president, Jose Ramos-Horta. Woodside Perth-based spokesman Roger Martin declined to comment.
Woodside and its partners, including Royal Dutch Shell Plc, have said that a floating plant in the Timor Sea is the best commercial option and would deliver the most revenue to both Australia and East Timor. Woodside, Australiaâ€™s second-largest oil and gas producer, has ruled out piping the gas to East Timor because it estimates that would cost about $5 billion more.
Patrol Boats
Gillard on June 24 ousted former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, whose border policies were blamed for an influx in asylum seekers. About 3,576 refugees arrived on 76 boats so far this year, Immigration Department figures show, compared with 2,726 on 60 boats in 2009.
Gillard has spoken to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, Ramos-Horta, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and New Zealand Prime Minister John Key about establishing the regional center.
Australia will also spend an extra A$24.8 million ($21 million) on border protection, including eight new patrol boats, extra police and improved computer capabilities.
Australia will accept 13,750 refugees and people who qualify under special humanitarian rules in the 12 months ending June 30, 2010, up from 13,507 in the previous year. The nation takes in 0.6 percent of the worldâ€™s asylum seekers, Gillard said.
As of July 6, there were 2,567 people in detention on Christmas Island, an Australian territory more than 800 kilometers (497 miles) off the northwestern coast.
About 1,503 people, who arrived by boat were transferred to mainland detention centers in Sydney, Darwin, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and regional centers in Curtin and Leonora in Western Australia and Port Augusta in South Australia.