East Timor seeks to sink sea treaty over spy claims East Timor is seeking to tear up a treaty on the sharing of oil and gas revenues in the Timor Sea because it says Australia spied on it during the negotiations. East Timor has launched a process of arbitration to challenge a 2006 treaty which governs how proceeds are shared from oil and gas fields that straddle the joint development area between the two countries. The developing country argues the treaty is invalid because Australia did not conduct 2004 negotiations in good faith and alleges Australia conducted espionage. In his 2007 book Shakedown: Australia's Grab for Timor Oil, Paul Cleary, a former Fairfax Media journalist who was part of East Timor's negotiating team, wrote that the country's then prime minister Mari Alkatiri was convinced the Australian government was spying on them during negotiations in Canberra in September 2004. The East Timor delegation stopped holding meetings in their hotel, fearing rooms were bugged, and dumped their mobile phones because they suspected eavesdropping. In a joint statement issued on Friday, Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the spying allegations were not new, and it had been the position of successive Australian governments to neither confirm nor deny them. But the statement said Australia had "always conducted itself in a professional manner in diplomatic negotiations" and had acted "in good faith." Australia said it considered the Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea was valid and remained in force. The treaty provides for revenue from the Greater Sunrise fields, which are situated 450 kilometres north-west of Darwin and 150 kilometres south-east of East Timor, to be shared equally between the two countries, and prohibits both countries from discussing maritime boundaries for 50 years. Don Rothwell, a professor of international law at the Australian National University, said the revenue split had long been a source of tension, with East Timor believing the arrangement favoured Australia, and seeking a permanent maritime boundary, which would probably place the entire Greater Sunrise field within East Timor's maritime boundary. East Timor has initiated arbitration under the 2002 Timor Sea Treaty. Professor Rothwell said there was a legal question about whether a dispute over the 2006 treaty could be resolved under the arbitration process set out in the 2002 treaty. If arbitration proceeded the matter would be decided by a three-member tribunal comprising a nominee from Australia and East Timor and a national of a third country. But he said Australia could refuse to participate in arbitration. The Australian government's statement said it was still considering its response. It said the treaties provided certainty for investors and delivered benefits to both countries. East Timor's ambassador to Australia, Abel Guterres, said: "Timor Leste and Australia are good neighbours and the good relationship and co-operation will go on, despite whatever differences we have."