He said he had been told DFAT did not want to publish the entire first nine chapters of the book, which deal with Timor's history back to World War II, because the department "did not think that was relevant".

"I am very disappointed that they have so far refused to allow the release of those chapters. It seems to me if you are writing a book about INTERFET … you would want to understand the context of it," Mr Downer said.

"I can understand intelligence not being released for security reasons of one kind or another. But I can't understand why DFAT would block the release of those first nine chapters and I think Marise Payne should intervene and ensure the publication of the full book goes ahead."

Mr Downer said he did not believe there was any diplomatic issue at stake concerning Australia's relationship with Indonesia. He also said he was not concerned about potential revelations about his own conduct as foreign minister in the then Howard government.

"I never worry about what people say about me really. I'm very confident that we did the right thing all the way through. I don't have anything to hide," Mr Downer said.