Denpasar: Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has taken a thinly-veiled swipe at the Morrison government’s decision to consider moving the Australian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, warning of a “very negative reaction” in Australia’s near neighbour and a risk to the national interest.
And Mr Turnbull, following a half-hour meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo in Bali, also expressed confidence that the Indonesia-Australia free trade agreement would be signed in a matter of weeks, despite the diplomatic brouhaha.
In a rebuke of Mr Morrison’s proposal, which was floated during the Wentworth byelection, Mr Turnbull pointedly distanced himself from the idea.
“The conclusion that I took, and my government took, after very careful and considered advice was that a policy that is well over 40 years old, 50 years old, should remain exactly the same as it is,” he said.
“The President expressed to me, as he has done to Prime Minister Morrison, the very serious concern held in Indonesia about the prospect of the Australian embassy in Israel being moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
“There is no question, were that move to occur, it would be met with a very negative reaction in Indonesia. This is after all the largest Muslim-majority country in the world. We have to be very clear-eyed about that, and we have to take into account Australia’s national interests, and our interests in the region, when we consider a decision like this.”
In his meeting with Mr Joko, known as Jokowi, Mr Turnbull stressed that no final decision on the embassy move had been taken.
Read the article by James Massola in The Sydney Morning Herald.