FOREIGN Minister Julie Bishop has begun face-to-face talks with her Indonesian counterpart, Marty Natelgawa, as part of efforts to heal a diplomatic rift sparked by recent spying revelations.
Ms Bishop arrived at the foreign ministry in Jakarta on Thursday accompanied by senior Australian officials, including former head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) Dennis Richardson, who is now secretary for the Department of Defence.
Peter Varghese, the secretary for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Andrew Shearer, who was the last foreign policy adviser in John Howard's office and currently a senior adviser for national security to Prime Minister Tony Abbott, have also made the trip to Jakarta.
The visit comes almost three weeks since Indonesia suspended military, intelligence gathering and people-smuggling co-operation after it emerged that Australian spies attempted to tap Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's mobile phone, as well as those of his wife and other close political allies, in 2009.
It is Ms Bishop's fourth trip to Indonesia since the Coalition won office three months ago, but her first since details of the spying came to light.
Dr Natalegawa welcomed Ms Bishop, although he has repeatedly warned in recent weeks and as recently as Wednesday that the talks in Jakarta are only the first step in a long road towards normalising relations.
"Welcome to Jakarta, you're always welcome to Indonesia," Dr Natalegawa said.
"I thank you for the opportunity to meet with you today," Ms Bishop told the Indonesian foreign minister before the talks were closed to the media.
The meeting was expected to take about two hours.
Before leaving Australia on Wednesday, Ms Bishop said in a statement that the "high level delegation" would discus a broad-range of issues regarding the bilateral relationship.
But the meeting comes as relations between Jakarta and Canberra remain at their lowest point since the East Timor crisis in 1999, and amid demands from Dr Yudhoyono for Australia to sign up to a code of conduct that will include guarantees around spying.
Speaking on Wednesday, Dr Natalegawa said he hoped discussions would be "constructive", but warned the onus was very much on Australia in terms of responding to a six-point plan Indonesia insists must be followed if relations are to be repaired.
Asked if there were indications that Australia were willing to sign up to the plan, Dr Natalegawa said he had received positive signals.
"I haven't heard anything to the contrary, which is always a good sign. We wish very much to move forward and to discuss this issue in a positive and constructive way," he said.
Dr Natalegawa also reiterated that Indonesia still wanted a detailed explanation about the spying before negotiations could move forward to the point where the proposed code of conduct would be officially discussed.
"Up to now, it has always been the case that Indonesia and Australia are very close and very pragmatic when dealing with one another," Dr Natalegawa said.
"We need to draw a line and move forward, but before we move forward, we have to be informed about what happened in the past, and assured that there's no more surprises, no more shocks to the system."
Dr Yudhoyono has demanded Australia sign up to the "code of ethics and protocols", insisting it is needed to map out the future bilateral relationship.
The president has insisted that the code of conduct must address the spying issue and contain protocols to ensure similar espionage activities do not occur again, and that it is signed by himself and Mr Abbott.
However, even if the code of conduct is implemented, there would be a period of evaluation, before Indonesia would agree to restoring co-operation in areas such as the military and police, including joint efforts aimed at combating people smuggling.
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