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Indonesian-Australian relations ebb

Australia’s relationship with Indonesia is burdened with a “sense of disconnect”, former Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa said.

He warned that Australia’s asylum seeker boat turnbacks are “inherently incompatible” with good bilateral relations.

Mr Natalegawa addressed a leadership conference at Australian National University on Monday and reiterated his view that the controversial policy is a slippery slope.

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Speaking on Sky News, Mr Natalegawa said of the government’s policy to turn back asylum seeker boats to return to Indonesia: “If we go on on this path, whilst the main problem may be resolved it will be at the expense of the bilateral relationship.”

Australian relations with Indonesia have slid since Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed in April on a prison island to the south of Java for drug offences.

Mr Natalegawa, foreign minister in the government of president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, said bilateral relations have been drawing down on the trust bank in recent years.

“National efforts should not be seen at the expense of bilateral and regional co-operation,” he said.

Former Australian ambassador to Indonesia Bill Farmer said Prime Minister Tony Abbott had done a disservice to Australia’s standing in the region before boat crisis talks in late May with his “nope, nope, nope” comment and emphatic refusal to accept any Rohingya refugees for resettlement.

Mr Farmer said Australia, in theory, is well placed to accept a small number of Rohingya refugees as part of a regional solution.

“I do believe we go too readily for the dog whistle on boats,” Mr Farmer said.

– with AAP

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