Creating a flexible regional foreign policy for Australia: learning from the lessons of East Timor and applying them in West Papua

Kel Dummett

Australia's inflexible foreign policy regarding East Timor resulted not only in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Timorese over the 26 years, but also caused a virtual collapse of the close relationship between the two countries. The embarrassing policy back-flip Australia was forced to make in East Timor, has made Australia appear untrustworthy in the eyes of many Indonesian leaders. What changes should be made to our foreign policy to make it more transparent, honest and flexible, so that it can adapt to political changes within the Asia-Pacific region, especially in relation to West Papua?

Kel Dummett is a full time PhD student at RMIT University, Melbourne. He has been a teacher at secondary and tertiary levels, worked at remote Aboriginal communities, been an elected councillor for a Sydney council and worked as an environmental manager. He has been an active peace, environment and social justice campaigner for more than 20 years. For the last 10 years he has been an active member of the Australia West Papua Association.