Tony
I see by your bio that you have been an Ambassador in Cambodia so I am sure you know only too well the Asian approach to patriotism, manners, and dealing with foreigners as well as being diplomatic regardless of your which country you represent.

According to the Jakarta Globe editorial on 2/10/2013 Indonesian journalists were shut out of a press conference following a breakfast meeting between business and government delegates.

When taking into consideration that Jakarta Post is owned mostly by a consortium of Indonesian newspapers, I would hazard a guess that these newspapers are reporting likewise. Not a good look

Unless you have insider information we are only getting the Australian side of the story from a compliant media.

Finally several words on operation sovereign borders.
What happened to "Stop The Boats", "Buying The Boats" and having the Indonesians spy on one another for financial gain?

I am already hearing rumblings and denials of electing his party from the LNP cheer squad where I work. The poor buggers knowledge of Indonesia is limited to the accommodating and seemingly pliant tourist operators in Bali and they thought Abbott would just snap his fingers and the Indonesians would come bowing and submissive

What a nonsense article. Abbott backed off at ninety miles an hour and, cap in hand, nodded 'Yes, Sir' and 'No, Sir' to everything the Indonesian President said.

Abbott forgot about the 'tough talk' he used while trying to be elected. In fact, he probably wet his trousers!

Obbatt did exactly what I expected him to do. He has made Australia the laughing stock of the region!

If the this is intended to be a PM&C (Abbott's Departmental) Press Release and a fawning one at the that...the author succeeds.

Stout defence of the author's old Department, PM&C, is matched by the alleged poor performance of the various branches of Government that PM&C is meant to be coordinating.

If this curious article does not score a consultancy for the author in the new Abbott Government we shouldn't worry unduly.

Planta

Summary: Tony Abbott accepting the position of the previous Labor Government is a win for Australia.

Meanwhile, Mr "no surprises, no excuses" has had to walk back, tail between legs, from one of his signature policies.

If the media doesn't hold him to account for this, it will be truly failing in its duty.

labour/greens spend 5 years creating a shambles and sook severley when Abbott does not clean up the debacle overnight. How pathetic. They seem to never learn as shown by Gillards victimhood speaches.

Tony, I think it is time you had a holiday, the only way to prevent deaths at sea is to save people and stop whinging about Jakarta.

How much will you bet against the boats stopping?

I could use a few easy quid.

While not providing fawning praise for Abbott's anti-boats policy the militarisation of Australia effort with the appointment of General Campbell will impress the Indonesians. see http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-17/angus-campbell-to-oversee-abbotts-border-protection-plan/4963732

This is due to the traditional and enforced respect of Indonesians for their Generals.

The Indonesians have long associated Generals with legitimate civilian authority with:

- the Independence leader Sukarno frequently dubbed "General"(late 1940s to 1965)

- then General Suharto (dictator late 1960s-1998),

- Sukarno's daughter becoming President,

- then "SBY", a former General, becoming President from 2004.

If the Indonesian's perceive that the "boats" have become such a serious bilateral problem the Indonesians may be less willing to have 1,000 of "refugees" fly into airports in Java every month.

These "refugees" obviously have serious money to spend in Java before being shipped in dangerous Indonesian boats to Australian territory. A large percentage of the "refugees" money goes to Indonesian military and civilian authorities in Java at various levels.

I didn't see the welcome that Abbott received when Gillard/Gillard showed up in Indonesia if that's anything to go by.

OoooK … got it.

Tony Abbott ‘nails Jakarta’ and did ‘handsomely’ in holding ‘frank but clearly warm private talks’ and delivered ‘well-tempered public messages of apology’ that ‘deftly dispelled’lots of 'major clouds' with ‘fulsome respect’.

And with a ‘courteous olive-branch’ he parted the waters all the way to Java. ‘There will be fewer deaths,’ he boomed. ‘The bilateral relationship is much bigger … than people smuggling!’

And the unbelievers trembled and wept ‘at the PMs deft handling of a difficult situation’. The people smugglers hung their heads in shame and threw themselves by the score into the very same seas over which they plied their evil trade, ‘a point the Indonesians well understood and graciously accepted’.

Thank you for sorting this out, Mr Kevin, in the national interest. Looks like the voters elected a bona fide, born-to-rule, dignified statesman for PM. And I’m sure that if we ever forget that fact, the Murdoch-Coalition media will keep reminding us on a regular basis.

Here's timely article.

"Abbott defuses diplomatic tensions of his own making."

How true!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-03/green-abbott-defuses-diplomatic-tensions-of-his-own-making/4994484

"The man most responsible for putting Australia on a collision course with Indonesia over the issue of asylum seekers has been allowed to claim credit for restoring calm, writes Jonathan Green."

<<Here's timely article>>

Timely?

A better word would have been tilted.

What would you expect from Jonathan GREEN --have you ever listed to his little lefty talkfest--green by name and alignment

The morons are getting ahead of themselves, again as usual.

SPQR,

Your only have to look at this piece of huffing and puffing in Murdoch's propaganda sheet to realise that Abbott and Morrison created the atmosphere which he now has apparently handled "deftly".

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/we-can-turn-back-boats-if-we-want-says-tony-abbott/story-fn9hm1gu-1226301311544

All his own doing...and now he's being congratulated for defusing it.

individual,

Nice to see you're sticking to your charter.

One sentence containing the word "morons".

It's the kind of excellence we've come to expect from you.

: )

Individual
Julia Gillard's trip to Indonesia was barely reported in Australia because it was positive and that didn't fit the propaganda/agenda of the majority of Australian media outlets.

Judging by what my friends in Jakarta tell me she was reported respectfully and warmly by the Indonesian newspapers.

As far as Tony Abbott is concerned most Indonesian newspapers think he's a patronising clown who is trying to hide something.

FGS! Poirot you and few others remind me of the brats in this vid!
<<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhhHnYaJ-Vk>>

Abbott said: " Australia has every right to return asylum-[scammer]boats ...to Indonesia"

And while I personally don't think its the best move --since it leaves us open to squawks of indignation from left-wing media,every time little Ali grazes his knee--Abbott is correct.

Abbott at no stage said we were going to intrude on Indonesian waters in the process. Although strangely enough, many who are implying he did and throwing a hizzy fit about it expect us to enter Indonesian waters each time we get a phoney distress call

And our turning-around of Indonesian boats, crew by Indonesians, intent on illegal people smuggling should be of little concern to Indonesians --except for corrupt officials who work with & stand to profit from the furtherance of such smuggling.

You lot really do remind me of the brats in the vid. With two exception, unlike the brats you guys don't want to go anywhere --AND
I doubt you guys were ever that cute(in the nice sense of the word)!

Thanks SPQR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhhHnYaJ-Vk is a truly cruel weapon that will hose pro-boaters into submission :-)

Pete

SPQR,

I never watch your youtube links.

(Just sayin'...)

Good article by Jonathon Green, Poirot.

The boats were never able to be stopped. The low boat numbers of the later Howard years were about push-pull factors, not policies. However, media framing and emphasis, helped enormously by the Tamil defeat in Sri Lanka, deliberately inflamed the boat people 'crisis' as one of the many methods used to make the ALP government appear incompetent.

Now that Murdoch has 'kicked the ALP mob out', and with his man safely ensconced in Canberra, the issue will automatically lose media value and asylum seeker controversy will almost certainly die down. It has to, in order for Abbott's statesmanship grooming to take effect.

Poirot,

And in truth I don't open your links, Youtube or otherwise, either. But in my defense it's more a precautionary measure --since the last one I opened contained a porno-like image of a woman gallivanting in the Alhambra.

Yeah Poi-rot

If nothing else, SPQR's Youtubes and Boob-Tubes, yes he wears them, are second to none.

Yours

Planta

(holding onto his own)

SPQR,

I think that's utter bulls..t.

You are a piece of work.

Mate.....

SPQR,

Just to clarify your recent blather.

You appear to be the one posting links to "...a porno-like image of a woman gallivanting in the Alhambra."

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=15467&page=0#267605

(I wouldn't know because I didn't - and don't intend to - open your link)

My link was of my drawing which I posted for Peter Sellick in a discussion of art and meaning.

Philistine.

Julia Gillard's trip to Indonesia was barely reported in Australia because it was positive
Phil R,
You'd better take body language lessons if you think that. Get some footage & watch President Yudhoyono as he with Gillard/Rudd & then compare when he is with Abbott. The reason it didn't receive much press in Australia was because there was nothing of substance.

Poriot,

<<You are a piece of work>>

LOL

What, as in: "What a piece of work is [SPQR}, how noble in reason, how
infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and
admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like
a god! the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals..."

Bloody hell, it doesn't take much to get your knickers in a knot.I was speaking in jest. Your imagery was strangely moving --but not as moving as the cinematic images of Rae Dawn Chong!

And at the risk of knotting your knickers further. As I recall you we one of those who said she was offended at the use of the word "ape" in relation to an AFL player. Yet I see you are happy to perpetuate the old slander against a whole race of people in the ME <<Philistine>> --so much for standards, ay?

Cheers!
________________________________________________

KIll-arney
(What have you got against Arnold Schwarzenegger?)

I will keep this little gem: <<The boats were never able to be stopped>> and draw it to your attention at a later date.

SPQR,

Grasping at straws.

You know full well that I was referring to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philistinism when I used the word philistine.

I wondered how you'd react to my pointing out that it was "you" who posted the link to which you referred.

Now I know.

Poirot,

Have a nice day

Cheers

Over and out.

SPQR

‘I will keep this little gem: <<The boats were never able to be stopped>> and draw it to your attention at a later date.’

Look forward to it. And in the meantime I will monitor how the media twists and distorts the continuing boat arrivals to make it look as if it is no longer an issue, because Statesman Tony has ‘nailed’ the problem.

So far, the media have been true to form – a boat bound for Australia sinks and dozens drown under Statesman Tony’s watch, but through unashamed use of some of the most blatantly obsequious media rhetoric I've ever encountered (eclipsing even the worst of Murdoch's chunder-bucketry during the Howard era), we are expected to believe he is now the hero of the day in both Indonesia and Australia.

And I'll also monitor how the 10s, indeed 100s, of billions of taxpayer dollars spent on having the Oz Navy regularly drag boats back to Indonesia will be made invisible, while the media shines its ever dependable spotlight on welfare recipients as the cause of SO much wasteful government expenditure.

Killarney,

<<So far, the media have been true to form...>>
What the WHOLE media?

<<a boat bound for Australia sinks yada yada yada ... under Statesman Tony’s>>
"50 METRES OFF THE INDONESIAN COAST" FGS!
I'm surprised you didn't indict him for the sinking off the Italian coast as well!

<<we are expected to believe he is now the hero of the day in both Indonesia and Australia>>
No sireee --judging from your intransigence on other issues--only a fool would would include YOU in any WE which was expected to make an objective assessment.

<< and I'll also monitor how the 10s, indeed 100s, of billions of taxpayer dollars spent on having the Oz Navy regularly drag boats back to Indonesia>>
LOL
Here's a wager for you. I'll bet they'll incur fewer costs in turning/towing boats back (because it is likely to be utilized so infrequently) than they have in the last 6 years in mounting (almost daily) search and rescue operations with the HMAS taxi service to collect every shonky asylum scammer boat that gets just off Singapore and makes a distress call on its IPone --and (funnily enough) I did not hear you whine about the costs of that!

Cheers!

I presume Tony, through his diplomatic contacts, knows that the PM had 'frank but clearly warm' talks with SBY, otherwise I'm inclined to think this fulsome piece is conjecture based on information we all share.
Though no fan of Mr Downer I prefer his blunt comments about the relationship with Indonesia. Not all Indonesians are sensitive souls waiting for affronts. A healthy relationship requires respect on both sides - and that includes recognising that Australians speak directly.

The word that should apply to Phoney is not deft; it is daft!

His stumbling speech, his hesitations, his constant repetitions, his fluttering hands, etc, demonstrate a man who is unsure of himself, who is drowning under the pressure that is upon him.

As Sports Minister, he would barely cope. As Prime Minister, he is a perfect example of a sow's ear!

Duncan Graham,

".... and that includes recognising that Australians speak directly."

That's a laugh.

Abbott went over in an official capacity and acted and spoke in one way....deferential, if you like.

Then came back and had his attack dog, Morrison, speak in an entirely different manner.

That's not direct.

That's disingenuous, weak and shifty.