Ties with Jakarta remain close, vital
- The Australian
- March 08, 2014
AUSTRALIA'S defence relationship with Indonesia is set to get back on
track after the tensions over spying allegations, says defence force
chief David Hurley.
General Hurley told Canberra University's National Security Institute
the Australian Defence Force had invested heavily in its
military-to-military relationship with Indonesia during the past five years.
Relations at a commander-to-commander level remained close despite
recent problems.
"I think there's a big desire to get back to business as usual in
that relationship," General Hurley said.
He said there was fairly constant interaction between the senior
leaderships of both countries. "So there are political decisions to
be made but the militaries are poised to go back to previous arrangements."
He strongly defended the need for Australia to collect intelligence
to give it a strategic edge.
"We could not do what we do without a robust intelligence community
and capability," he said.
"In many respects you could not over-invest in intelligence because
of the powerful edge it gives you, particularly these days where some
of the capabilities give you insights that in the past were
inconceivable about what people are thinking, saying and doing."
General Hurley said about 2000 people worked in the three defence
intelligence agencies and they should never be considered to be
public servants whose jobs could be cut.
The services would be blind without them, he said.
"They are core capability for the ADF to be able to do its job and if
you reduce them you reduce our ability to be successful on the battlefield."
General Hurley said Australia's relative economic advantage in the
region was declining.
In terms of GDP, Indonesia's economy was now larger than Australia's
and in 20 years it would be nearly twice as big.
"The gap is predicted to widen further by 2050. That development, by
itself, has important repercussions for our security and reinforces
how critical our relationship with Indonesia is."
General Hurley said that with the size of Australia's economy
declining compared with those of its neighbours, the ADF could face
lethal weapons in a technically far more dangerous future
environment. The coming defence white paper would have to ensure the
ADF was well-equipped and highly capable.
General Hurley said military diplomacy would be crucial to defusing
tensions in the region and it was vital to keep inviting Indonesian
officers to study in Australian defence institutions and for
Australians to develop close personal relations with them.
He said he had told personnel he did not care what grades they got as
long as they finished their courses with at least two lifelong
Indonesian friends they could phone at any time.
He said joint military exercises wi
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