Paul Keating
argued Australia can ‘be directly threatened with military force only through
Indonesia and Papua New Guinea’
part of his
vision of a grown-up Australia, the prime minister, Paul Keating, wanted the nation to find its own
voice on trade, diplomacy and security. In particular, he wanted a much deeper
engagement with Asia.
On 18
December 1995 Australia signed a landmark security agreement with
Indonesia, ending decades of antagonistic relations. It had been approved by
cabinet just four days earlier, cabinet documents for 1994 and 1995 released by
the Australian National Archives on Monday reveal.
The
submission argues that the defence white paper had identified Australia’s
relationship with Indonesia as its most important and that a treaty
would put a “formal umbrella” over existing understandings.
Cabinet
records for 1994 and 1995 held by the National Archives of Australia are
accessible from 1 January 2018. Copies of 245 cabinet records from 1994 and
1995 have been made available to the media under embargo. The Guardian’s reports
are based on these. Some were redacted due to national security concerns.
Information
about the cabinet records, copies of key cabinet documents, including selected
submissions and decisions, are available on the national archives website.
Requests for
access to records not already released may be made via RecordSearch on the website.
“There is no country more important to
Australia than Indonesia,” Keating argued in his submission. “Australian
territory can in effect be directly threatened with military force only through
Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.”
But the
agreement was very controversial. In Australia, as in Portugal, there was
growing support for East Timor’s independence from Indonesia following the Dili
massacre in 1991 and a series of brutal crackdowns on the resistance movement
Fretilin by the Suharto regime.
Keating
acknowledged there would be “criticism from opponents of Indonesia, groups
which are concerned by Indonesian policy in East Timor and from those who have
simply been taken by surprise”.
But he
argued it was a matter of being clear about what the treaty didn’t do. It did
not commit Australia in any way it did not wish on East Timor or require
Australia to compromise its position on human rights, he argued.
At a
briefing on the cabinet paper, Kim Beazley, the former defence minister, said:
“Paul knew I was pretty hardline when it came to the defence of Australia ...
on the 707 he told me what he was up to. Suharto hadn’t told his people either,
I believe.”
Beazley
remembered the thousand-yard stares of the generals who flanked Suharto.
The Guardian
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