Well people often ask me how I felt growing up with a father who was a politician and who was often away. But when I'm asked that question I often reflect on my inability really to be able to answer it in any relative sense because I never grew up with a father doing anything else. So I just have no idea what it would be like otherwise.

An agreement which has been criticised by some opposition parties and other critics including a bipartisan letter of reproach from 50 members of the United States Congress as being unfair to East Timor as the gas reserves are closer to East Timor than Australia but are claimed by Australia on the basis of a treaty with General Suharto in 1989. By the end of 1994 his approval ratings had dwindled to 34 percent after being as high as 53 percent.

Downer is currently the United Nations Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Cyprus. Alexander John Gosse Downer AC (born 9 September 1951) is a former Australian Liberal Party politician who was Foreign Minister of Australia from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007 the longest-serving in Australian history. He was also the Leader of the Opposition for eight months from 1994 to 1995.