SPQR,

"Everyone still gets weekly accounts of what happened"

Hey, hey....that's very funny.

We're lucky Morrison even tells us where his fake pressers are taking place.

SM,

Here's another great oxymoron.

"Abbott" and "Statesmanship"

What everyone likes is good open govt; Statesmanship is a skill some have, but not all. You go around telling another country how to run their own country, there are going to be repercussions.
Indonesia has got the upper hand in this diplomatic disaster and Abbott has now got to lick their PM"S grass. It did not take long for Abbott to put his foot in it, as been the case for years, why should we expect him to change his ways. The Indonesians are now off side and their trust in AU is wreaked. A pig headed approach to a problem that should never have escalated. Abbott will never be welcome in Indonesia again.

P,

Abbott has shown himself to be a far better statesman that either of the labor idiots Dudd or Juliar.

Juliar's knee jerk response created a crisis where there was not one there before.

Taken from The Saturday Age, November 23, 2013.

"According to William Maley, Director of the
Australian National University's Asia-Pacific
College of Diplomacy, good diplomacy requires
"tact, understanding and a willingness to listen."

"The Coalition government, he reasons, has displayed
few of these attributes in dealing with Indonesia,
starting with its insistence on turning back boats
laden with asylum seekers to Indonesia."

"Ever since they were in opposition, Indonesia
has consistently warned them about this. They don't
like this unilateral approach to people smuggling."
Mr Maley staid, "They have just ignored the signals
from Jakarta, even as they have become stronger."

"When Indonesia began refusing requests to accept
asylum seekers picked up by Australian vessels,
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said, "There's
no real rhyme or reason to Indonesia's behaviour."

"This was especially galling in Jakarta, which felt it
had made its position abundantly clear."

"The subtext was we are dealing with people who are not
rational. This is how it was perceived in Indonesia,"
Mr Maley stated.

It was in this context of already strained relations
that the spying revelations were exposed by documents
obtained by the former contractor Edward Snowden,
when he worked at the US National Security Agency.

Certainly Mr Abbott rankled Indonesia in the aftermath
of the revelations by not only failing to provide
an explanation, but the manner in which he conveyed
his sentiments. His remark that Australia's intelligence
activities were to "help our friends and our allies,
not to harm them." translated in Indonesia to mean -
"We're spying on you for your own good." This was
outrageous. And as a result Indonesia announced the
suspension of military and people-smuggling co-operation.

Crowning it all, Mr Abbott's pollster Mark Textor took
to Twitter to compare the Indonesian President, or
perhaps Natalegawa, to a "Pilipino porn star with ethics
to match."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-25/labor-leads-government-in-first-nielsen-poll-since-election/5113798
It has been my view stated here often that the polling was turning and fast.
And that claiming a mandate, for any thing, is not backed by truth.
I recommend we all strap our selves in we are going to see the bumpy ride this Government has had increase.
Those who can not see voters rushed to dump Labor, not elect Abbott are not looking.

Here we go, Belly.

This is how this extremist govt is now handling things in its gulags.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/25/immigration-detention-centres-no-longer-formally-report-childbirth

"The birth of children and clinical depression are no longer being formally reported as incidents in Australian detention centres, while self-harm events have been downgraded from critical to major, according to new guidelines from the detention service provider Serco.

Incident reports are how Serco communicates with the immigration department about events in detention centres, such as births, deaths, assaults and escapes.

The new reporting guidelines, which were obtained under freedom of information laws by Refugee Rights Watch, significantly alter the categories of incidents Serco is required to report to the immigration department. While some categories have been replaced or expanded, “birth of a child” and “clinical depression” have been removed, with no apparent replacements."

I wonder how long before we're shamed internationally for the running of our concentration camps?