Defence diplomacy: the right ballast for Australia's fragile relations with Indonesia

This paper examines the role of defence diplomacy in providing 'ballast' to the relationship between Australia and Indonesia. It contends that Australia has implemented many policies over the past three decades that have had limited success in helping to avoid serious ructions in Australia's relations with Indonesia. It argues, therefore, that the importance of establishing ballast, or a firm foundation for the relationship, is arguably more important for Australia than ever.

The paper notes that defence diplomacy, sometimes called defence international engagement, has been used by Australia and Indonesia to build trust and common ground through increased familiarity and cooperation, and that it has proven effective in cooling tensions and avoiding conflict. The paper argues that defence diplomacy should increasingly be employed, not least so that when the next crisis occurs, as history portends it will, defence diplomacy will reveal its value as providing substantial ballast for relations between the two countries.

This paper was also published in the Indo-Pacific Strategic Digest series.

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