Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 04/2010

Indonesia and Australia: time for a step change

Fergus Hanson

March 2010

Lowy Institute for International Policy

Abstract

The relationship with Indonesia is one of Australia’s most important but it is still not on a firm footing. Government-to-government ties have been strengthening but relations are focused around a mostly negative set of security-related issues. Business-to-business links are underdone and public perceptions are in a poor state. Even incremental improvements will be hard to make without dramatic leadership gestures to provide a much needed jolt to the relationship. In this Policy Brief, Fergus Hanson offers four suggestions for lifting the relationship up a notch.