A delegation of five visitors from Timor-Leste enjoyed a welcome reprieve from the Melbourne morning chill last month as they met with Uniting Church President Stuart McMillan and synod staff at 130 Lt Collins St.
The group’s visit was sponsored by Ringwood Uniting Church, which since 2011 has been in partnership with Hosana Church in Dili.
As part of that partnership there is an exchange of visitors every year, with Ringwood people visiting Hosana and some from there coming to Melbourne.
The visiting group was headed by Rev Moises Antonio Da Silva, who is the Hosana minister and former moderator of the IPTL Synod of protestant churches in Timor-Leste.
At the meeting attended by Mr McMillan, Ringwood members and Justice and International Mission director Dr Mark Zirnsak, the main issue discussed was Australia’s refusal to recognise a maritime border that would give Timor-Leste the full ownership of offshore oil and gas reserves.
The last Synod meeting adopted a proposal brought to it by Ringwood to campaign for Australia to recognise Timor-Leste, one of the world’s poorest nations, as the rightful owner of the resources.
Rev Da Silva said the main challenge faced by his church and the people in Timor-Leste was raising the standard of living.
He said 70 per cent of people in his congregation had not been taught to read or write, leaving them with limited employment prospects.
Most of the roughly 300 members of Hosana depended on small scale farming for their livelihoods and were very vulnerable to changes in weather patterns, with rainfall becoming less reliable.
As their talks wrapped up Rev Da Silva presented both Mr McMillan and Dr Zirnsak with a scarf and a packet of coffee.
“It’s an absolute delight being here today,” Mr McMillan said.
Observers noted the coffee was an especially apt gift as Mr McMillan had just taken part in the 40 hours of continuous prayer by church leaders that had seen participants rostered to pray through Sunday and Monday nights.
Mr McMillan vowed to do anything he could to fight for a fairer maritime border in the Timor Gap.
“I encourage the church to get behind this campaign,” Mr McMillan said.
“It’s a matter of justice, correcting something that is wrong.
“Also with aid being cut we need to show a greater generosity of spirit.”
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