evidence: Is Ashmore Reef part of Australia? That should be a relatively simple question to answer. The reef is an area of approximately 583 square kilometres, and encloses three islands – East, Middle, and West – that make up the Ashmore Island group. The Ashmore Islands and the reef are located 840 kilometres west of Darwin, 610 kilometres north of Broome, and 170 kilometres south of the Indonesian island of Roti. The three Ashmore Islands and adjoining reef have formally been a part of Australia since the Ashmore and Cartier Islands Acceptance Act 1933 entered into force on 3 May 1934. That followed King George V signing an Order-in-Council on 23 July 1931 placing the islands under Australian control. [...] Does Indonesia have any legitimate claim over the Ashmore Islands? Australian sovereignty over the islands is well settled and uncontested. There is no evidence of any competing formal Indonesian claim to the islands. Indonesia did not raise any diplomatic objections when Australia made submissions in 2004 to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf with respect to a continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles, which partly relied upon Australia’s claim over the Ashmore Islands. In the absence of any clear Indonesian claim to the islands, and general acceptance in the international community of Australian sovereignty over the islands, there would not appear to be any international legal basis for an Indonesian claim to the islands.