Dateline: May 20

Tomorrow night Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Marty Natalegawa, discusses a lack of communication between Australian and Indonesian governments over border and refugee issues, with Dateline’s, Mark Davis.

When asked about what advice Australia gives when sending boats back to Indonesian waters he says: “we are somewhat caught by surprise to be honest.”

Davis: Do they advise you?

MN: No. No.

Davis: Is that a surprise?

MN: Yes of course. It often comes to our notice…after the event. And this is certainly not something that we appreciate.

Natalegawa expresses further disquiet over a lack of notice when Australian naval vessels enter Indonesian waters. It is a ‘slippery slope’ and he maintains there are no notice protocols in place to avoid such incursions being misinterpreted.

MN: We want to ensure there has been no miscommunication and misunderstanding and that the issue doesn’t get out of hand. And that’s why communications and hotlines of communication need to be established.

His assessment of Australia’s attitude to Indonesia is that ‘we are trying to understand and remind ourselves that there’s a political context that was happening [last year]. So far it has been a very testing situation because we are seeing a policy that is often very difficult for us to give an impression of working hand in hand.

9:30pm Tuesday SBS ONE