Australia’s foreign policy has consistently identified Timor-Leste as a country of the most immediate importance to Australia. As one of Australia’s closest neighbours, this paper argues that Timor-Leste needs to be front and centre in Australia’s strategic outlook, foreign policy and personal connections.

This report seeks to identify and prioritise health system strengthening initiatives that prevent impacts of health security threats and strengthen the ability to respond to these threats in the Pacific region.

This paper looks at the primary challenges that Timor-Leste faces, on both the economic and political fronts.

This paper argues that while there is little evidence to support the claim that China already has a strong degree of influence in Timor-Leste, it is also necessary, in Australia’s strategic outlook, to be alert to the implications of such a possibility in the future.

Violence against children is at endemic levels across Pacific island nations and Timor-Leste. Millions of children experience exceptionally high levels of physical, emotional and sexual violence, as well as neglect.

The Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP), which allows workers from the Pacific and Timor-Leste to work on Australian farms for up to nine months, grew by 44% in 2018-19 or by some 3,000 workers – the largest absolute increase ever and one of the highest percentage...

This narrative focuses on the Timor Sea and the sovereignty issue over the part of the continental shelf that is adjacent to Australia’s northern coast and which has been coveted by both Indonesia and Timor-Leste.

This paper explores how Timor-Leste’s sense of geopolitical vulnerability, as a young democracy in an increasingly rivalrous region—when coupled with a number of pressing domestic imperatives—has played a key role in shaping its strategic outlook.

This paper details how Dilli might opt to confront some of its most sizable challenges—whether in terms of providing sustainable economic growth, pursuing democratic consolidation, or in fending off some of the more predatory trade policies of its larger neighbors.

This audit found 31 cases of misconduct committed by aid workers connected to Australian charities. The sector's peak body, the Council for International Development, has promised major changes to protect some of the world's most vulnerable people.

Timor-Leste’s high rate of malnutrition impedes the population’s ability to break the cycle of poverty and, at the national level, is a burden on national development. As a Least Developed Country, with a high poverty rate, achieving food and nutrition security is crucial for Timor-Leste’s...

This National Human Development Report (National HDR) puts the well-being of young people in Timor-Leste at the centre of the policy agenda. This report responds to the development aspirations of the youth of Timor-Leste, the drivers of the nation’s future development.

This paper evaluates the impact of the Australian agriculture sector's Pacific seasonal worker program on workers, their households, and communities.

For the first time, Australia and Timor-Leste have agreed upon a permanent maritime boundary.

This Office of Development Effectiveness evaluation examined the effectiveness, inclusiveness and efficiency of Australian electoral assistance to major national elections in eight countries between 2006 and 2016: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Fiji and Tonga.

The political stalemate in Timor-Leste has three possible outcomes. Michael Leach explains.

The long and complicated history between Timor-Leste and Australia over the Timor Sea offers two salient lessons for contemporary maritime order in Asia.

A surprise agreement in the Timor Sea boundary dispute vindicates Timor-Leste’s strategy. Michael Leach explains.

Third in a series of papers on the role of Sovereign Funds (SFs) in the Pacific Islands, this report suggests a 'reference portfolio' approach as a benchmark governance choice for Pacific Island funds

This report summarises the research that has been undertaken on Sovereign Funds in the Pacific and draws out key findings, lessons and opportunities for funds to move closer to “best practice”.

Politics in Timor-Leste is always engaging and colourful, and the lead-up to the 2017 presidential election on March 20 is no exception.

With billions of dollars’ worth of natural gas and oil on its doorstep, Timor-Leste needs to successfully utilise those resources and invest in sustainable economic growth if it is to continue development in the medium- to long-term future.

Sovereign Funds (SFs) are often the largest single asset owner and investor in the Pacific Islands, and the income stream from these funds can also be a large part of fiscal revenues.

Assesses the impact of Chega!, the commission that documented human rights violations committed throughout Indonesia's 24-year-long occupation of Timor-Leste. It is now 10 years since the publication of Chega! (the final report of the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation, known by its Portuguese acronym...

Abstract In this Discussion Paper, I consider first the academic debate on the establishment of democracy and the role of political competition and cooperation as a background to the current Timorese government formula. This is followed by a brief historical tour of the idea of...