Disputes - international: Australia-East Timor-Indonesia are working to resolve maritime boundary and sharing of seabed resources in "Timor Gap"; Australia asserts a territorial claim to Antarctica and to its continental shelf
Illicit drugs: Tasmania is one of the world's major suppliers of licit opiate products; government maintains strict controls over areas of opium poppy cultivation and output of poppy straw concentrate
This page was last updated on 1 January 2002
========================================================================
Ashmore and Cartier Islands
Introduction
Ashmore and Cartier Islands
Background: These uninhabited islands came under Australian authority in 1931; formal administration began two years later. Ashmore Reef supports a rich and diverse avian and marine habitat; in 1983 it became a National Nature Reserve. Cartier Island, a former bombing range, is now a marine reserve.
Geography Ashmore and Cartier Islands
Location: Southeastern Asia, islands in the Indian Ocean, northwest of Australia