• Adelle Neary, Second Secretary Indonesia (Political), Department Foreign Affairs and Trade
• Alexander Tan, Manager, Deloitte Strategy
• Alison Martin, Policy Advisor, Greens MP in the NSW Parliament
• Courtney Saville, Global Coordinator at Vision 2020 Australia
• Daniel Peterson, Indonesian and Global Politics tutor at Huntingtower School
• Drew Boekel, Policy and Parliamentary Officer at AusAID
• Jack Greig, Strategic Policy officer in the Australian Government
• Jemma Parsons, Senior Consultant, Cardno Emerging Markets
• Jack McNaught, Founder International Internships, Lecturer Deakin University
• Natalie Sambhi, Analyst at Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) and editor of The Strategist
• Natrisha Barnett, President AIYA Western Australia
• Nicholas Mark, President AIYA NSW, Author of Indonesian childrens book, Petualangan Anak Indonesia
• Paul Schmertmann, Senior Legal Officer, Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department”
• Ross Tapsell, Lecturer in Asian Studies at Australian National University

Adelle Neary

Adelle is currently serving as Second Secretary in the political section at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta. Prior to joining DFAT she was based in London working as a lawyer in central and eastern Europe, and before that as a Policy Adviser in the South Australian Government.

Adelle first started learning Indonesian at age 13 and made her first foray into the Indonesian archipelago on a school trip to Bali at age 15. She completed her final semester of university at Universitas Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta in 2006. An avid traveller of Indonesia, Asia and the world, she is yet to find a sambal she prefers to that from Kupang. Adelle hopes to be able to continue working on both foreign and domestic policy in her future career.

Alexander Tan

Alexander Tan is an experienced strategy consultant, currently working at Deloitte. He has over six years’ experience in developing complex business solutions and specialises in corporate business unit strategy, customer experience, business transformation and performance management. He is passionate about education and giving students opportunities to develop their skills in a global environment. Alex settled in Australia from Indonesia at the age of ten, with the aim to attain world-class education. He was a Director for AIESEC, a global youth leadership organisation which encourages students from all around the world to become positive change agents. He believes that the opportunities that were available to him shouldn’t be as scarce as they currently are and he has a strong interest in improving labour mobility and developing talent by creating more efficient education delivery models. Alex completed a Bachelor of Commerce at University of Sydney.

Alex believes that the bilateral relationship must enable easier access to resources and opportunities between the two counties, as the economic, social and political future of Australia and Indonesia will become more inextricably linked. He looks forward to connecting with like-minded people in working to deconstruct the issues and dilemmas that are faced by his two nations and develop creative and practical solutions to these problems.

Alison Martin

Alison Martin is a Communications and Policy Adviser for a Greens MP in the NSW Parliament. She has worked in communications, media, marketing and development for a range of organisations in Australia, the UK and Indonesia. Alison holds a Masters degree in Human Rights Law and Policy from the University of NSW and a Journalism degree from the University of Technology. She was an AusAID Australian Youth Ambassador for Development based in Jakarta, where she worked for a local NGO and World Vision Indonesia.As an AYAD, Alison consulted on policy, media and communications strategy and also helped to coordinate humanitarian response and evaluate microfinance projects in the field. Whilst in Indonesia, Alison worked with local and international NGOs including the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA). She also attended the UNESCO International Youth Conference 2009 in Banten and helped to draft and present recommendations for the conference paper.

Alison believes that the most important thing about the Indonesia-Australia relationship is the need to fundamentally shift the perceptions of Australians in relation to Indonesia. As entrenched stereotypes persist within mainstream Australia and impinge on government policy making, they threaten to stymie meaningful engagement between the two countries. She is passionate about empowering communities and working with individuals and groups to support them in achieving better human rights outcomes. She hopes to work with local communities either in Australia or internationally in the area of human rights advocacy and campaigning.

Courtney Saville

Courtney commenced Indonesian language studies in the third year of her undergraduate degree in 2008. Later that same year, Courtney went off to spend almost two years in Indonesia – one of which taking part in the ACICIS program for two semesters. Courtney has since completed her undergraduate degree of Bachelor of Laws/Bachelor of Arts (International Studies – Indonesian Language), and following graduation undertook a six month internship in Cambodia so as to apply her background of law and international studies to the development sector. Since January 2012, Courtney has been back in Melbourne, working in development with Vision 2020 Australia where she is the Global Coordinator. In October this year, Courtney graduated with First Class Honours from the Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Indonesian Language program at Deakin University.

Outside of her work and studies Courtney has been involved in the Australia-Indonesia collaborative arts space for a number of years. She has successfully received funds to support Indonesian artists to Australia for artists-in-residence programs, produces a small art magazine that features at least two Indonesian artists per issue, was Cultural Officer for the Australia-Indonesia Youth Association (Vic), and currently volunteers at Melbourne Intercultural Fine Art (MiFA), a gallery in Melbourne’s CBD with a keen interest in showcasing Indonesian contemporary arts.

Courtney believes that collaborative arts projects result in deeper cultural exposure and lead to better understanding, trust, and one-on-one connections that will be crucial to the development of a stronger ‘high-level’ relationship. In 10 years’ time, Courtney hopes to be working in art and development, focussing on community development and cultural exchange between Australia and Indonesia.

Daniel Peterson

Since commencing his Indonesian language studies at the age of eight, Daniel majored in Indonesian language at Monash University and completed his honours thesis in Indonesian studies, where he examined the ideologies behind the first Bali bombings. In 2007, he completed the last semester of his Bachelor of Laws on exchange at Universitas Indonesia and then undertook a two-month internship at Baker and McKenzie’s Jakarta office, Hadiputranto, Hadinoto and Partners. While completing his Master of Laws at the University of Melbourne in 2008, he was invited by the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine to Timor-Leste to be its interpreter for a month where it conducted training for local police and mortuary officials in aspects of disaster victim identification, as well as a forensic investigation into the Santa Cruz massacre of 1991.

In 2010, following his admission to legal practice, Daniel worked as an Indonesian language legal translator for an environmental and OHS consultancy. Daniel now teaches Indonesian and Global Politics at his alma mater, and has accompanied Indonesian language students to the Sampoerna Academy’s Palembang campus this year, where he was coerced into an impromptu performance of the song “Kenangan Terindah” in front of the graduating Year 12 class.

Drew Boekel

Drew is a Policy and Parliamentary Officer in the Indonesia and Timor-Leste Branch, AusAID. He previously worked in Indonesia with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and also as a management consultant. Prior to this he worked as an Indonesia Analyst for the East Asia Forum, a policy forum based out of the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University (ANU).

Drew has studied Indonesian since high school and completed a yearlong exchange at university in Indonesia with the Australian Consortium for In-Country Indonesian Studies. He also participated in the Australia-Indonesia Youth Exchange Program and has frequently engaged with the Australian Indonesia Business Council. Drew holds a Bachelor of Laws/Asian Studies (Specialist-Indonesian) from the ANU. He speaks Indonesian and Javanese and is known to perform the Acehnese Saman Dance on occasion.

Jack Greig

Jack is a Strategic Policy officer in the Australian Government and a Masters student in the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University. He is an alumnus of the 2012 Australia-Indonesia Youth Exchange Program (AIYEP) and was a participant in the inaugural Australia-Indonesia Youth Dialogue in Jakarta.

Jack is currently serving on the Committee of the Kokoda Foundation’s Future Strategic Leaders Program and in March 2013 was selected by the Vice Chief of Defence Force to become a Global Voices delegate. He has spent time as a research intern in Argentina and in the office of a Federal Parliamentarian.

He has advised the Queensland Government on youth leadership and communication, acted as a youth mentor for Rotary International district 9600 and represented Australia at the 2009 British Council Global Youth Summit in London. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the University of Queensland.

Jack believes that bridging the perceived cultural divide in the bilateral relationship is important, and that this can be achieved by appealing to similarities in character, humour and passion for innovation. He hopes to contribute to building a stronger and more versatile bilateral relationship, able to work collaboratively on shared regional challenges. 

Jemma Parsons

Jemma is an Indonesia specialist with over 10 years of combined Indonesia experience spanning research & academia, consulting and international development roles in the public and private sectors. Currently based in Jakarta, she is a Senior Consultant for Cardno Emerging Markets, contributing to strategic business development across Cardno’s Indonesia portfolio and managing Cardno’s AusAID programs in Timor Leste. Jemma was an Associate Director of the Asian Law Group, a legal reform development consultancy directed by Professor Tim Lindsey, where she managed an advised on a DFAT-funded program aimed at curriculum reform among Indonesia’s network of State Islamic Universities.

She has worked in Indonesia on an AusAID Islamic Education development project and also directly for AusAID in the emergency relief phase of the 2004 tsunami in Aceh. She was Principal Researcher of the Asian Law Centre at the University of Melbourne from 2007-2011 where she led a range of Indonesia-focused legal research activities under Tim Lindsey’s Federation Fellowship grant .  Jemma is an ANU Asian Studies Specialist (Indonesian) graduate and holds a Masters of International Law from the University of Melbourne.

Jack McNaught

Jack McNaught is the founder of Indonesian Internships, which has since developed into International Internships. He currently manages this as well as lecturing finance at Deakin University. International Internships collaborates closely with Universitas Islam Indonesia, in Yogyakarta, and BINUS University, in Jakarta, to facilitate internships in a variety of organisations, from multinational corporations to grassroots NGOs. His introduction to Indonesia was in 2004, when he managed an AusAid grant to capacity build small producers and travelled to Aceh to purchase and distribute aid in the wake of the tsunami. For the past eight years Jack has sat on the committee of the Victorian chapter of the Australia Indonesia Business Council and for the past three years on the Advisory Board of the Bachelor of International Studies at Deakin University.

Jack believes that cooperation is key in the bilateral relationship to overcoming challenges which the region will face. He loves his work developing programs to help people of the region work together, and hopes to continue this in the future.

Natrisha Barnett

Natrisha Barnett is a recent graduate of the University of Western Australia (BA&BEc). She is the founder and president of the Australia Indonesia Youth Association Western Australia and enjoys developing relationships within the community to advance impact. Natrisha has participated in a number of exchange programs including the Australia Indonesia Youth Exchange Program and a Journalism Practicum with ACICIS at the Australian Embassy Jakarta. Each program has enhanced her understanding of Indonesian language, culture and its people. She has also been involved with drafting a discussion paper for the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement for the Australia Indonesia Business Council and has undertaken work placements with the Australian Embassy Jakarta and the Department of Commerce Western Australia.

Natrisha believes that mutual understanding and the idea of geographic closeness that is emerging is a very important element of the relationship that needs to be maintained and built upon in future years. She believes that she will be a strong candidate to be the first female Ambassador to Indonesia, or an Economic Secretary with the World Bank in the future.

Natalie Sambhi

Natalie Sambhi is an analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) and editor of ASPI’s blog The Strategist. Natalie’s research interests include political and security affairs in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. She has previously worked at Department of Defence as an analyst.

Natalie was a Hedley Bull Scholar at the Australian National University where she gained her MA (International Relations)/MDiplomacy. She also holds a BA (Asian Studies) (Hons) from the University of Western Australia. Natalie is currently the vice-president of the ACT branch of the Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA).

In 2010, she founded Security Scholar, a blog on security and defence issues. You can follow Natalie on Twitter at @SecurityScholar. She enjoys travelling regularly to Indonesia, improving her Indonesian language skills and playing the cello.

Natalie believes that people-to-people exchanges should form the core of the bilateral relationship. She hopes that the more Australians will understand about Indonesia through personal experience, and vice versa, the stronger and more meaningful our political, trade and security relationships will be.

Nicholas Mark

Nicholas Mark is a recent Arts/Law graduate from the University of Sydney. Nicholas has been learning Bahasa Indonesia ever since he was in high school, and continued all through university, attaining First Class Honours in Indonesian Studies in his Arts degree. Nicholas is the President of the NSW Chapter of the Australia-Indonesia Youth Association, and is an alumni of ACICIS. He is currently working in the legal sector.

His passion for Indonesia also led him to write and publish a children’s book in Bahasa Indonesia in 2012, entitled ‘Petualangan Anak Indonesia‘ (‘The Indoventurers’), together with an illustrator from Yogyakarta, Bambang Shakuntala. The book is now used by schools in both Australia and Indonesia, and the project has enabled him to present at international literature festivals, such as the Asian Festival of Children’s Content in Singapore. Yogyakarta and makanan gorengan are his favourite things about Indonesia.

Nick believes that believes that facilitating closer creative collaborations and sharing stories via film, literature, radio and other arts and online media will be crucial in building a stronger cultural relationship. In ten years’ time, he hopes to be working in the law and continuing his creative pursuits involving Indonesia, particularly with film and children’s books.

Paul Schmertmann

Paul is a Senior Legal Officer at the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department and works in partnership with Indonesian law and justice agencies to strengthen responses to people trafficking, people smuggling and other transnational crimes. Paul has previously worked at the Attorney-General’s Department in a number of roles, including criminal law policy and international law. Paul holds Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of New South Wales.

Paul has an enduring interest in Indonesia, having studied Indonesian language for the past 14 years and completing a semester of studies in the law faculty at Universitas Gadjah Mada in 2009. Paul previously undertook a two month volunteer internship at the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute, one of the principal providers of legal aid services in Indonesia.  Paul travels frequently to Indonesia and enjoys playing and writing music in his spare time.

Paul believes that Australia and Indonesia have a tremendous amount to offer one another, and that strengthening the relationship further will help unlock a range of cultural and economic opportunities. Paul is interested in working in Indonesia in the future and is also exploring opportunities to develop a business with Indonesian partners.

Ross Tapsell

Ross Tapsell is a lecturer in Asian Studies at the Australian National University. He researches the media in Indonesia and Malaysia. Ross was a recipient of the Australian Government Endeavour Postdoctorate Award, where he conducted research on press freedom and media ownership in Indonesia. He has been a Visiting Fellow at The University of Indonesia, Airlangga University (Surabaya) and the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (Jakarta). He has also worked with The Jakarta Post and the Lombok Post, and has been part of the Australia-Indonesia Youth Exchange Program. Ross is coordinator of the ANU’s EngageAsia Program and the Graduate Certificate in Teaching Asia. These programs enable school teachers and students to expand their knowledge of Asia.

Ross believes that the successes in the Australia-Indonesia relationship in the past 68 years have been largely driven by pushing personal connections and friendships. He believes that people-to-people relations are the foundation of a deep and inspiring engagement, where the two nations can work together and learn from each other in solving problems of this region and the world.