One of the first things that Anthony Albanese did after the May election was go to Indonesia.

It was, obviously, designed as an important signal to both Indonesia and the region that his government is serious about Australia's engagement, which is often perceived by our near neighbours as erratic at best.

But less obviously, the prime minister had a particular message he wanted to give to Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.

This was to let him know about Australia's plans for a major new mutual defence treaty with Papua New Guinea, announced earlier this month, which will see up to 10,000 soldiers from PNG join our defence forces, and commits the two countries to coming to each other's aid in case of attack.

Given PNG borders the often-troubled Indonesian province of West Papua, it

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