Bishop admits refugee issue needs work Foreign Minister Julie Bishop denies there was tension in a meeting with her Indonesian counterpart. FOREIGN Minister Julie Bishop has conceded a lot of work needs to be done to convince Indonesia of the merits of the Abbott government's approach to the refugee issue after her Jakarta counterpart reportedly warned Australia about implementing its policy. Bishop says she enjoyed "a very productive and positive meeting" with Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa in New York yesterday where she outlined the new government's plans to deal with boat people. However, Indonesian news reports suggest Natalegawa warned Australia against instigating its policy and spelled out in no uncertain terms to Bishop his country would not accept any approach that violated Indonesia's sovereignty. Speaking in New York between a flurry of meetings and United Nations events, Bishop refused to go into details of her discussion with Natalegawa, declaring she was "confident we'll be able to implement our policies," although she admitted "there can be some misunderstanding as to what our policy is it is certainly not in any way to show disrespect for Indonesia's sovereignty." Looming visits to Jakarta by Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison and Ms Bishop will be part of a robust effort to convince the Indonesian government to reconsider its tough stance against the new Australian position on refugees. Ms Bishop said she explained to Natalegawa that Australia would be making changes to the law to "take away the product that he people smugglers are currently selling and that is permanent residency in Australia." When asked if the Indonesian objections were an indication that much needed to be done to change Jakarta's opinion, the minister opted to blame the Labor Party for leaving "a complete mess in border protection." The current laws under the Labor government only encourage people smuggling so there is a lot of work for us to do. Bishop denied there was any tension in the bilateral with Indonesia: "Not at all. We spoke very warmly, we know each other well. Between meetings with her French, Russian and other counterparts today, Bishop attended US President Barack Obama's much anticipated address to the UN. "I think the president confronted many of the issues that are the subject of debate here," she said, referring to the conflict and concern over chemical weapons in Syria, a possible thawing of US-Iran relations and the Israeli-Palestinian question. She said she was hopeful the US and Russia would be able to agree to a resolution acceptable to the international community in relation to Syria chemical weapons after which Australia would issue a statement on humanitarian issues in Syria. The current UN General Assembly gathering, known as Leaders' Week, has virtually shut down the east side of Manhattan to traffic and created gridlock elsewhere in the city, especially with President Obama sweeping into New York. Bishop said she met the president and his wife at a dinner last night where the American leader told her he was looking forward to Prime Minister Abbott visiting the US. He was very warm and congratulated me and certainly spoke in very affectionate terms about Australia.