Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to visit East Timor but progress on ‘thorn in the side’ relationship unlikely
The Prime Minister will seek to improve a complicated relationship between Australia and East Timor when he addresses the small island nation’s Parliament.
During his first visit to one of our closest neighbours, Anthony Albanese will on Wednesday highlight Australia’s contributions to the country, including the Government’s support for Timorese independence in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
“In dark times, it is our friendship and our innate respect for each other, for democracy and for sovereignty that will prevail,” Mr Albanese will say in his speech to the country’s Parliament, according to extracts provided to AAP.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“As the Prime Minister of Australia, I say to you today and to the courageous Timorese people you represent: your Australian friends will never forget you.”
Mr Albanese is not expected to make any announcements about an ongoing dispute over access to gas fields in the Timor Sea.
East Timor has long demanded that gas extracted from the sea, which sits between the country and Australia, should be piped to its south coast for processing.
Until recently, Woodside, which operates the fields, has insisted it would be cheaper to send the gas to Darwin.
In late 2025, the energy giant signed an agreement to investigate building a gas plant in East Timor, but the project still needs to clear a number of major hurdles.
Gordon Peake, a researcher and author who lived in the country from 2007 to 2011, said the ongoing stalemate has been a “thorn in the side” of the relationship between the two countries, and Timorese officials would be hoping for tangible progress from Mr Albanese’s visit.
“The Timorese are going to be really hoping that the Prime Minister’s visit is not just handshakes and smiles and honeyed words,” he told AAP.
Mr Albanese’s visit is complicated by a messy history between the two countries, Dr Peake added.
In 1975, the then-Whitlam Government recognised Indonesia’s occupation of East Timor, also known as Timor-Leste, and struck an oil and gas deal with Indonesia.
“The Timorese think that they are owed by Australia for Australia’s past chicanery in Timor-Leste, for kind of looking the other way whenever the Indonesians invaded,” Dr Peake said.
Along with his address to East Timor’s Parliament, Mr Albanese is expected to meet with Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão and President José Ramos-Horta during his visit.
