DFAT hosted this year's Elizabeth O'Neill Award winner, Ms Fitria Sofyani, in two of our less-travelled states, the Northern Territory and Tasmania, as well as Sydney and Canberra.

The award is run every year in honour of the late Elizabeth O'Neill, a DFAT colleague killed in a plane crash in Jogjakarta in 2007. An Indonesian and an Australian journalist travel for two weeks to report on a chosen topic in the other's country.

One of Fitria's chosen story topics was gender issues and Australian women politicians' and other senior women's experiences, so DFAT flew her in to the Top End, where NT State Office organised for her to meet senior Indigenous women such as The Honourable Bess Nungarrayi Price MLA.

While Fitria had several high-level meetings, she said that people in the street were giving her a constant rundown on the Australian body politic, and the insights were invaluable.

"The Australian public is so politically engaged!" Fitria said throughout her visit. "Everywhere I go, in Sydney, Central Coast, everywhere, Australians are talking politics."

Despite its being budget week in Canberra, Fitria interviewed Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and House of Representatives Speaker The Hon Bronwyn Bishop, and met Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Tanya Plibersek.

She had earlier met Ambassador for Women and Girls Natasha Stott Despoja in Jakarta, and had previously reported on Australian development activities in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly maternal health and programs to counter violence against women. So meeting Ms Stott Despoja for an extended interview at the DFAT offices was a warm reunion.

As well as facilitating Fitria's chosen topics, the visit covered trade sectors identified as relevant to women and also likely to grow along with Indonesia's economy: superannuation and philanthropy. Fitria visited board members of the peak superannuation body in Sydney, and her last 'engagement' was a cup of tea at the Blackman Art Hotel in St Kilda with Australian Women Donor's Network CEO Julie Reilly. Julie seeded story possibilities for Marie Claire's Indonesian audience to embrace the concept of philanthropy.

Tasmania State Office staff showcased Australia–Asia BRIDGE School Partnership activities at Lansdowne Crescent Primary School, one of eight schools in Tasmania that are partnering with schools in Asia to learn each other's language and culture. Fitria was a star turn on Hobart local radio, and had a four-minute early-morning interview with Ryk Goddard extended to 15 minutes.