Thanks to revelations about clandestine eavesdropping, Australia is once again viewed with suspicion by its Asian neighbours and our plan to stop the boats has hit a rock, writes Dr Norman Abjorensen.

The 'stop the boats' mantra was always going to come back to haunt an Abbott Government. A simplistic, even simple-minded, slogan thrown at a troubling and complex matrix of political, social, economic and geographical issues was not only as ludicrous as it was absurdly reductionist, it was inevitably, as a hurried short-term tactic, on a collision course with more substantial, longer-term strategic considerations.

The keystone in the architecture of any structure put in place to bring a more orderly process to bear on unauthorised people movements in the region was always going to be Indonesia, and enlisting Indonesia's active co-operation was crucial. Tony Abbott of course knew this, and loudly proclaimed his intention to make Jakarta his first port of call after becoming prime minister. Now, just days after Immigration Minister Scott Morrison's round of meetings in Indonesia aimed at putting flesh on policy bones, the in-principle agreement on co-operation is in tatters.

In a very real sense, Tony Abbott is a prisoner of history, and his vaulting ambition to refashion a new and productive relationship with the Asian giant on Australia's northern doorstep had to break out of the historical paradigm. Instead, he has stumbled at the first very first hurdle.

Australia carries baggage. It was but a generation ago that White Australia was the dominant characterisation of immigration policy. Australia was a slavish supporter of British colonial interests in the region, lending troops whenever asked, and it is often forgotten that conscription was brought in back in 1964 not specifically for the war in Vietnam but for possible war with Indonesia over the creation of Malaysia, which Indonesia opposed.

Despite much talk about engagement with Asia, the reality is that Australia remains a white outpost of Europe in the Asian hemisphere. Tensions are never far below the surface, and the former Singapore prime minister Lee Kuan Yew's warning 30 years ago of Australia running the risk of becoming "the poor white trash of Asia" bit deeply. Paul Keating's throwaway line, later regretted, about Asia being the place you flew over on the way to Europe, has been long remembered in the region. And then there were tensions over East Timor.

The advent of the post-Suharto era and a more relaxed political and diplomatic climate in Jakarta was a real opportunity for improvement in relations. The momentum towards closer ties and increased co-operation took an upward trajectory with the signing of the Defence Co-operation Agreement last year which itself followed the elevation of the relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2010. As these developments progressed along diplomatic avenues, Australian and Indonesian officials were working closer than ever in the aftermath of the Bali bombings in 2005 and the Ritz-Carlton and Marriott hotel attacks in Jakarta in 2009, sharing intelligence and devising joint approaches on counter-terrorism.

Post-Bali, these joint operations bore immediate fruit: some 30 people suspected of involvement were arrested and Jemaah Islamiah, the al-Qaeda linked group held responsible, though not eliminated, was severely weakened by the joint counter-offensive. At the same time, Australian intelligence services forged stronger and more intimate ties with their counterparts not just in Indonesia, but also Malaysia and Singapore. As a practical sign of a new and more robust relationship with Jakarta, then prime minister John Howard in 2004 attended the swearing-in ceremony for Indonesia's President Yudhoyono, something he had not done for previous leaders.

On the surface, it looked propitious for Tony Abbott. Never before had Canberra and Jakarta been as close with the prospect of even better to come as new education agreements were put in place, such as the New Colombo Plan with Indonesia as the pilot, and a new research centre being established at Melbourne's Monash University to focus on the relationship.

For a time it might have appeared that Australia at long last had allayed lingering suspicions in the region that it was merely an interloper, a pawn in the geo-political domination of the global South by the global North, a neo-colonial player who had never really changed.

But in one fell swoop it all started to unravel with the revelations of Australia's clandestine eavesdropping in Indonesia and elsewhere on behalf of its US ally. At once, the unfortunate, though accurate, characterisation of Australia as Washington's deputy sheriff in the region were recalled. John Howard, the figure most admired by Tony Abbott, had such a description put to him by a journalist, and which to his embarrassment then US president subsequently George Bush endorsed, albeit inadvertently.

Nothing had changed. All the talk about a new phase of integration, engagement and co-operation has been shown to be just talk. For a genuine partnership to develop in controlling people movements, the one essential element was trust on both sides. Australia needed to trust Indonesia that it would help and Indonesia needed to accept Australia as a regional equal in the process, not a neo-colonial glove puppet.

There is not much room for Tony Abbott to manoeuvre now in a policy sense. Australia has been shown to be what it always was: a willing acolyte of the big boys in the northern hemisphere rather than a genuine team player in the region. Diplomatic reassurances that the two positions are not contradictory will be met with wry smiles in the neighbourhood.

And the boats? Given the weight of evidence of high-level involvement in people-smuggling in Indonesia, only decisive action against powerful figures from Jakarta could address this. It is now highly unlikely that the political will to act is there in the wake of revelations about Australia's double game.

Stopping the boats was never going to be that easy.

Dr Norman Abjorensen teaches public policy at the ANU's Crawford School of Public Policy. View his full profile here.