Australia-Indonesia Relations Likely to Improve After Abbott Exodus

Jakarta Globe, Erin Cook, September 2015

An anti-Tony Abbott protester attends a demonstration at the Australian
embassy, South Jakarta, earlier this year. (Reuters Photo/Beawiharta)

Jakarta. An expected foreign policy pivot under the guidance of new prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, will see Australia pay particular attention to mending and maintaining relations with China and Indonesia, regional pundits have predicted.

Turnbull, who rose to the country’s top job after trumping former prime minister Tony Abbott in a party room vote late Monday night, has been a long term supporter of Asian business in Australia and a vocal advocate of the China Australia Free Trade Agreement.

While Turnbull has indicated continued support for the “boat turn backs” policy, which sees asylum seekers entering Australian waters towed into Indonesian waters by local law enforcement, experts have suggested his style of diplomacy may weather the controversy better than that of his predecessor.

Evi Fitrani, international relations head at the University of Indonesia heralded the change of leadership as a likely improvement to relations.

"Even though Malcolm Turnbull hasn't made any statement about foreign policy yet ... judging from his personality — judging from Abbott's personality at least — we think we will deal more communicatively and maybe in a better situation and better environment with this kind of leader," she said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Sydney-based Tom Wheelwright, a managing director of BowerGroup Asia focusing on government relations in the region, told ChannelNews Asia that Turnbull’s pragmatic and respectful style will likely be welcomed by his Asian counterparts.

“The big change we’ll see is that there will be no more three-word slogans to confuse or irritate our Asian neighbors,” he said.

“I think we’ll see more substance to foreign policy and I think Julie Bishop will have a stronger hand with foreign policy and less interference from domestic considerations.”

Bishop is tipped to retain her role as Foreign Minister under the new leader, a move likely to be welcomed across the region. Bishop and her Indonesian counterpart, Retno Marsudi, met in August for the first time after the Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Paul Grigson, was recalled in response to the April execution of two Australian drug traffickers. Grigson returned to Jakarta in June.

After a private meeting on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) foreign ministers conference in Kuala Lumpur on on Aug. 6, both ministers welcomed a return to warm relations.

Abbott’s time at the helm is marred by a series of events marking a particularly tumultuous period in the Australia-Indonesia relationship, from a phone hacking scandal targeting Indonesia’s political leaders to the #CoinsforAbbott campaign which saw thousands collect rupiah coins to “pay back” Australian aid to Indonesia after the then-prime minister linked the 2004 Aceh tsunami to the Bali Nine executions.

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