Australia’s prestige in our region rests not just on our aid or our military might but also, we hope, on our reputation for dealing fair and straight.

That is why Prime Minister Scott Morrison made a serious mistake on a historic trip to East Timor last week by refusing to address the injustice Australia is committing against two of the tiny island nation’s best friends.

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The story goes back to 2004 when the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) bugged the offices of East Timor's prime minister during negotiations over sharing out the oil under the contested Timor Sea.

With this illegally obtained inside information, Australia tricked East Timor into signing a rigged contract that would have funnelled as much as $5 billion more to Australia. Woodside Petroleum is the operator of the Greater Sunrise joint venture.