It is thus difficult to dispute that the current situation does not represent an eq uitable outcome
between the parties has envisaged by Article 73 and 84 of UNCLOS. Whilst critics might
argue against Australia’s legal right to the petroleum reserves of the JPDA, the current
entitlement has more to do with Australia’s hard bargaining wit h Indonesia in the Certain
Seabed Treaties of the early seventies than any intentional appropriation of the resources of a
newly independent and fledgling nation. Given that these boundaries cannot be revisited, it
would seem to be a mutually preferable outcome to have dealt with the issue through the
process of negotiation. Even though there is no formal recognition of East Timor jurisdiction
over the JDPA or the Greater Sunrise field, the significant proportion of revenue allocated to
East Timor “sails as close to recognition of East Timorese sovereignty as it is possible to
manoeuvre without conceding the point”