Timor-Leste – politics, policy, and problems

May 3, 2019

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On this week’s Policy Forum Pod, our expert panel discusses how Timor-Leste has fared during the last two years of political discord, with its president refusing to appoint several of the prime minister’s nominations for executive positions. We hear from the panel – António Sampaio, Carmeneza dos Santos Monteiro, and Professor Michael Leach – on how Timor-Leste can tackle its policy problems, and about the role of the country’s youth in driving political change.

António Sampaio is a journalist who has been covering Timor-Leste since 1990. He has reported for most of the Portuguese written press and, in Australia, for News Limited’s newspapers including The Australian, and for SBS radio and television.

Carmeneza dos Santos Monteiro is the Director for Policy and Institutional Strengthening at The Asia Foundation, Timor-Leste, where she leads initiatives addressing Government Accountability through Social Audit and Emerging Leaders Supporting Public Policy.

Michael Leach is a Professor in Politics and International Relations at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne. He has researched and published widely on the politics and history of Timor-Leste, including, most recently, Nation-Building and National Identity in Timor-Leste (Routledge, 2017).

The presenters – Sharon Bessell, Sue Ingram, and Julia Ahrens – also discuss Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten’s recent TV debate, and the crucial issues Australian voters must decide on before heading to the polls on May 18.

Sharon Bessell is Director of the Children’s Policy Centre at Crawford School, the ANU lead on the Individual Deprivation Measure Project, and Editor of Policy Forum’s Poverty: In Focus section.

Sue Ingram is an Honorary Senior Policy Fellow at the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific. She has wide experience in public policy, peacebuilding and international development, including 16 years as a senior executive in various social policy areas of the Australian Government, senior appointments in UN peacekeeping missions in Timor-Leste before and after independence.

Julia Ahrens is a Communications and Engagement Coordinator at Crawford School and a presenter for Policy Forum Pod.

Show Notes | The following were mentioned in this episode:

Crawford School of Public Policy

First Leader’s Debate 2019 between Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten

Second Leader’s Debate