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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 4 Hansard (29 March) . . Page.. 1020 ..
MS TUCKER (continuing):
I was interested in a communication from Caritas on the legal system in Timor. The Caritas communique reads:
The common report from almost all visitors to East Timor assessing legal systems development is that there is a fundamental lack of a plan by UNTAET. The attempt to put an interim justice system into operation is floundering, with a backlog of 600 cases already. There appears to be no agreement from Timorese people and organizations with UNTAET as to what sort of legal system is required and what is the best method to proceed. A District court has opened up in Dili and judges and prosecutors have been put in place but the system is not yet working effectively. Property disputes are numerous which, along with a wide range of other difficult legal issues, are causing steadily mounting problems, preventing investment and weakening confidence.
It was reported that there is no effective investigation of crimes underway in East Timor. Both UNTAET and INTERFET have not put adequate resources into this issue. What investigation is being done is ad hoc, limited and lacks direction.
I am raising these broader issues because I would like to broaden the discussion in this debate. I have been approached by a number of different organisations who have expressed an interest in seeing Canberra develop a sister city or friendship city relationship with Dili. What has interested me about this is that the idea has come separately from quite a number of groups in Canberra. I have also had the opportunity and privilege to meet with some representatives from East Timor who are also supportive of, and interested in, the idea. They have explained to me how desperately they need and would appreciate practical community-to-community relationships with, and support from, Australian cities and regions.
Interestingly, a number of such relationships have already been set up in Australia, particularly by local councils. One example is the Friends of Suai, which is a partnership between the City of Port Phillip and the community in Suai, which is in East Timor, based on a council decision in September last year to give support to the establishment of a partnership with a small coastal village or town in East Timor for five to 10 years; the development of community links between the City of Port Phillip and the community in East Timor; the coordination of fundraising activities to support that community; and the sharing of skills of council staff.
The project was kicked off with staff and community forums, through which community donations of bicycles, gardening tools, clothing and rice were coordinated and a strategy for developing a more substantial relationship emerged. The Port Phillip Council team worked with the Melbourne office of the National Council for Timorese Resistance (CNRT) National Commission for Emergency Aid, with the support of CNRT leader
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