Australia has appointed a new Consul General in Bali. The glory day are over for 'lurch-like' Brent Hall, the ever present figure seen visiting Aussie drug traffickers and at Bali bombing anniversaries.
Brent has been in Bali the same period of time as myself, arriving in Jan 2003. Bali is a pretty good posting and like other people who have come and gone, I'm sure he will miss living there. The new in paradise is Bruce Cowled, who is the acting assistant secretary to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's finance services and systems branch. What a mouthful! My advice to Bruce is wear a hat and use plenty of sunblock, seeing as he is probably a pastey white poli. He'll also want to hire a car and river for the first month and keep a bottle of the Bali Belly Buster handy. After that its plain sailing and I expect to see him lounging at Ku De Ta on Sunday mornings like his predecessor used to.
For Aussies coming to Bali its good to see there is a Consulate at all. Some countries like Ireland piggy back on the British Consulate, which a year ago was operating out of the Cat & Fiddle pub in Sanur. That's what I call diplomacy.
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