Australian PM Abbott in vow to Indonesia amid spy row

The political row over spying allegations that has ratcheted up tensions between Indonesia and Australia appeared to have softened yesterday after Australian Prime Minster Tony Abbott responded to concerns from his Indonesian counterpart.

Indonesia President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he would send Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa or a special envoy to Australia to discuss creating a code of conduct that would allow the two countries to continue co-operating on issues including intelligence sharing, the military and the police.

Yudhoyono sent a letter to Abbott outlining his concerns and received a quick reply.

"The Australian prime minister's commitment is that Australia will not do anything in the future that will be detrimental or disturb Indonesia," Yudhoyono said, without providing specifics. "This is the important point." Last week, Natalegawa said Jakarta was downgrading its relations with Australia.

Co-operation between the countries' law enforcement agencies and militaries was suspended, including work on the thorny issue of people smuggling. Indonesia also recalled its ambassador to Australia.

Abbott has refused to confirm or deny that Australia spied on the phone calls of the president, his wife and other leaders in 2009.