| About a week after terrorist bombs killed 202 people in Bali two decades ago, Australia’s then ambassador to Indonesia, Ric Smith, stood and stared down a bulldozer on what remained of the Sari Club in Kuta.
But the decisions made then would pave the way for a new model of whole-of-government national crisis response in Australia – one that was most recently deployed during the pandemic. And the tragedy would set the stage for enduring co-operation between Indonesia and Australia, especially in policing.
The Australian government led by prime minister John Howard wanted a joint investigation. That required an invitation from the Indonesian National Police to their Australian counterpart, the Australian Federal Police.Andrew “AJ” Colvin had taken up the new job as the AFP’s national co-ordinator for counter-terrorism just 10 days before the call came in the early hours of Sunday, October 13, 2002, saying there had been an explosion in Bali.
Operation Alliance involved hundreds of AFP officers split between Indonesia and Jakarta including disaster victim identification experts, family liaison officers, and forensic investigators. In the years since thousands have rotated through Indonesia. Colvin, who went on to become AFP commissioner before leaving the police in 2019, says there was one moment at about midnight three days after that early Sunday call, that taught him a lot.“I was in a hotel in Canberra and I was just so tired. We had all this information coming in , and our systems were overwhelmed.
This was explained time and time again, but it didn’t satisfy some. The grieving families wanted answers. Tysoe didn’t have the information they wanted. No one did.
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