Googel – AFP, 6 November 2013
Australian
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop addresses the press during the 68th
United
Nations General Assembly, in New York, September 25, 2013 (AFP/File,
Emmanuel
Dunand)
|
Sydney —
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has denied a rift with strategic ally
Indonesia over spying allegations as she left Wednesday for the Bali Democracy
Forum.
Canberra's
relationship with Jakarta is under pressure after reports last week that
Australia's overseas diplomatic posts were involved in a vast US-led
surveillance network.
The
problems were compounded by a report on Sunday citing a document from US whistleblower
Edward Snowden showing that Australia and the United States mounted a joint
surveillance operation on Indonesia during 2007 UN climate talks in Bali.
Indonesian
Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa
addresses the 68th United Nations General
Assembly at UN headquarters in New York,
September 27, 2013 (Pool/AFP/File, Eduardo
Munoz)
|
Despite
this, Bishop denied relations were frayed.
"I
don't accept that there has been a rift," she told ABC television late
Tuesday.
"I'm looking
forward to having a very productive conversation with Dr Natalegawa and other
Indonesian ministers."
Bishop
added that she had a "very fruitful" discussion with visiting
Indonesian ministers on Tuesday about the mutual benefit of working together on
issues such as combating terrorism and people-smuggling.
"The
bilateral cooperation that exists between our two countries in areas such as
people-smuggling and counter-terrorism is of mutual benefit, of mutual
advantage to both countries, and that will continue to be the case," she
said.
But Labor
opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek said it was clear the
relationship was in trouble after some "serious mis-steps" since the
new conservative government led by Prime Minister Tony Abbott was elected in
September.
"The
relationship with Indonesia was handed to the incoming Australian government in
very good working order," she said, adding that former foreign minister
Bob Carr had a "very close rapport" with Natalegawa.
"And
now we have an Australian foreign minister having to fly to Indonesia to
explain herself and apologise."
Plibersek
pointed to the government's lack of consultation with Jakarta over
asylum-seeker policy, a lock-out of Indonesian journalists at an Abbott press
conference and its failure to adequately explain the spying claims.
Indonesian
elections are expected in the coming months, but Bishop refused to speculate on
whether the polls were influencing Jakarta's recent rhetoric.
"That's
a matter for Indonesia to answer," she said.
The annual
Bali Democracy Forum, established by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono in 2008 to promote the development of democracy in the Asia-Pacific
region, is being held from November 7-8.
Bishop will
speak on the topic "Building and Strengthening Democratic
Institutions".
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