Let's hope that the head of the Hutt River Province, His Royal Highness Prince Leonard, does not have many ardent followers in Indonesia. So far, Prince Leonard – formerly plain Leonard Casley – has got away pretty much unscathed with his claim to have seceded from Australia, along with his farm 600km north of Perth.

But a new security treaty between Australia and Indonesian, due to be signed on Monday, will require Jakarta to crack down hard on any Indonesian resident who supports secessionist movements in Australia. In turn, the treaty will require the Australian Government to crack down on anyone in Australia who supports secessionist movements in Indonesia.

Privately, Indonesian officials make no attempt to hide the reality that the treaty is aimed at anyone supporting independence for West Papua, rather than Prince Leonard or anyone else claiming to break away from Australia. Article Two of the treaty commits each party not to support anything which threatens the "stability, sovereignty or territorial integrity of the other party". This explicitly includes support for separatism and could encompass calls for autonomy if this were deemed to foster instability.

The treaty goes much too far in limiting the freedom to advocate independence, or even autonomy, for West Papua which Indonesia invaded in the early 1960s, before it officially gained control in 1969 in what is widely regarded as a rigged plebiscite.

Earlier this year, Australian immigration officials accepted that a group of West Papuans should be granted protection visas because they were fleeing percussion. Australian residents were always allowed to advocate independence in the Baltic States, even though they appeared to be hopeless cases while they were part of the Soviet Union. Likewise, there is no ban on arguing for formal independence from China for Taiwan or Tibet. Nor should there be when it comes to West Papua.