Paul Toohey – Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser was anxious to assure Jakarta that the matter of East Timor was closed as far as Australia was concerned, less than a year after Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony.
The release of WikiLeaks cables shows that the then Foreign Affairs Minister, Andrew Peacock, urged Mr Fraser to hold back from publicly acknowledging Indonesia's sovereignty over East Timor during his visit to Jakarta in October 1976.
The Americans approved of Mr Fraser's "neat balance" of rejecting Mr Peacock's views and appeasing Jakarta.
Mr Fraser, who has since softened on many political causes, promised Indonesia's President Suharto that he would keep ensure that all Fretilin radio transmissions to Australia closed to deny the guerilla force getting word to the outside world.
The US Embassy cable said that Mr Fraser was forced, by implication, to repudiate statements from Mr Peacock, made in Australian parliament on July 20, that "Indonesia had not yet fulfilled necessary conditions for Australian acceptance of Timor situation.
Instead, Mr Fraser emphasised to the Indonesians that "the important thing now is to look to the future and to alleviate human suffering."
The Australian Ambassador to Indonesia at the time, Richard Woolcott, also privately informed the US Embassy in Canberra that it would not issue any more visa to "Portuguese subjects or anyone connected with Fretilin".
Mr Woolcott related the key points of a meeting between Fraser and Suharto. "Key issue was Timor in which Fraser, without reviving controversy in Autralia, sought to put problem out of the way as obstacle to smooth Australian-Indonesian relations," said the cable.
In private discussions with the President, Mr Fraser called for a cessation of fighting, Indonesian troop withdrawal, an act of self-determination; and relief through international agencies.
But Indonesia responded that troop withdrawal and self-determination were no longer issues since Timor was now Indonesian territory.
They also said major fighting had died out, and Australian aid was already being funneled through the Indonesian Red Cross, so his conditions were irrelevant.
After Mr Fraser left Jakarta, Indonesia issued a statement saying the Fraser Government had noted that Timor had become "a part of Indonesia".
That situation would remain for another 23 years until Mr Fraser's former treasurer, John Howard, would as prime minister lead the liberation of East Timor in 1999.