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Gillard would never have brought Australia to the sorry pass Abbott has

If one looks back on the life history of the Federal Member for Warringah, Tony Abbott MP, it is obvious that he operates best as a belligerent. That he thrives on conflict.

Not being known as a creator of good public policy or a builder of lasting parliamentary consensus, he seeks to aggressively oppose as a substitute for effective political action.

No longer being able to oppose the Federal Government because he is now the head of that very government, one has to suspect that Abbott is now casting about for another political enemy – a ‘baddie’ to his own ‘goodie’ - to fight for the sake of being seen to be fighting.

I fear that he seeks to engage Indonesia as his new opponent and that he would not (given his obvious admiration of all things military) be averse to leading Australia into a physical skirmish with this close neighbour.

One senses that Abbott finds the idea of being a ‘wartime’ prime minister an attractive proposition, given his recent rhetoric about the enemy and war with regard to towing/turning back asylum seeker boats.

If the Liberal Party of Australia doesn't swiftly depose this mindless adrenalin junkie he will bring our country to its knees.

The situation thus far.......

The Jakarta Post 23 January 2013:

9:35 AM

With Canberra pressing ahead with its hard-line policy of turning back asylum seekers to Indonesian waters, Jakarta told its neighbor on Wednesday the policy could lead to violations of Indonesia’s sovereignty and that it had increased security on its borders to prevent incursions. 

A number of Indonesian Navy warships have been deployed and four Air Force defense radars have been programmed to closely monitor the southern border, military officials told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday. 

“We are watching four radars in Timika, Merauke [in Papua], Saumlaki [Maluku] and Buraen [East Nusa Tenggara], which all face Australia,” Air Force chief spokesman Air Commodore Hadi Tjahjanto said.

“If we notice any border violations, our air base in Makassar will be ready. Australia is reachable from there.” Hadi was referring to the Sultan Hasanuddin Air Force Base in the South Sulawesi provincial capital, which is the base of the 11th squadron, consisting of 16 Russian-made Sukhoi Su-27/30 Flankers. 

The Flankers have a maximum range of some 3,000 kilometers. The sea border lies some 1,000 km from Makassar. At Mach 1, or the speed of sound, the Flankers would reach the border in little over an hour. 

Navy chief spokesman Commodore Untung Suropati confirmed that a number of warships had moved toward the Australian border. He said these included frigates, fast torpedo craft (KCT), fast missile craft (KCR) and corvettes as well as maritime patrol aircraft. He declined to reveal the precise number and location of the assets.

“All the ships are on the move, patrolling the waters,” he said.

Tension between the two neighbors reached a new height Wednesday after Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that stopping the boats was “a matter of sovereignty” and Jakarta should understand Canberra was taking the issue seriously. 

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who suspended cooperation with Australia following allegations that it attempted to spy on him and members of his inner circle, skipped the Davos meeting to oversee the handling of recent nationwide flooding and the eruption of the Mount Sinabung volcano. 

Abbott’s statement came only days after Australia admitted that its naval ships had entered Indonesian waters. It later apologized to Indonesia for the incursion. 

Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto said it was Australia that should respect Indonesia’s sovereignty, “which was violated by the Australian navy.” 

“Asylum seekers that have entered a country, including Australia, must be managed according to the UN Convention on Refugees,” he asserted in a written statement. 

Australia is a signatory to the convention. He added that the country concerned must also handle the problem in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) or the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Yudhoyono’s foreign affairs spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said, “A violation of our national territory for any reason cannot be tolerated.”

“If Prime Minister Abbott asks President Yudhoyono and the Indonesian people to understand Australia’s seriousness with regards to its sovereignty, in the same vein, Indonesia also asks Australia to understand our firm commitment to our vital interests.”

Novan Iman Santosa contributed to the story.

4:08 PM

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s statement saying that Australia would continue to stop the boats carrying asylum seekers was a defiant stance against the 1951 Refugee Convention, an expert says.

“Abbott’s statement which used Australia’s sovereignty as the ground of his policies to turn back the boats is not in line with the convention. The asylum seekers were labeled as illegal immigrants without scrutiny first,” University of Indonesia international law expert Hikmahanto Juwana said in a statement sent to The Jakarta Post on Thursday.....

Calling Abbott’s statement as “very unfriendly to Indonesia,” Hikmahanto also slammed Australia’s decision to unilaterally address the boat people issue using military forces.

“It is a pity that such a nation that as developed as Australia still has policy makers that tend to violate human rights. Traditionally, it is nations like Australia which are supposed to preach developing nations how to respect human rights,” he said....

Jakarta has recalled Indonesia’s ambassador to Australia since November and it is not yet known when he would be returned to Canberra.

BACKGROUND

The Sydney Morning Herald 15 January 2014:

Navy personnel carrying out border protection were quietly stripped of some workplace safety protections and obligations last month in an apparent preparation for dangerous operations such as turning back boats.

The Chief of the Defence Force, General David Hurley, used his powers under workplace safety laws shortly before Christmas to exempt Navy sailors from their obligation to take ''reasonable care'' to ensure their own safety and that of other sailors and asylum-seekers.

The change aims to give sailors legal protection, meaning they would ''not face individual criminal sanctions under the Act for giving effect to Government policy'', an explanatory statement issued by General Hurley states.

General Hurley acted in consultation with Employment Minister Eric Abetz to make the change, which effectively puts the sailors on a similar footing to military personnel fighting in battle.

The change, made on December 19, came as the government enacted its hardline election promise of turning back asylum-seeker boats, which critics have warned poses dangers to Navy personnel and asylum seekers. As many as six are believed to have been turned back to Indonesia in recent weeks.

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT, Work Health and Safety Act 2011, Work Health and Safety (Operation Sovereign Borders) Declaration 2013,ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHIEF OF THE DEFENCE FORCE

This is what happens when you put a right-wing political ideologue and an army general in charge of sensitive naval operations

I am well aware that Royal Australian Navy ship drivers can be very gung-ho, but I also know that in the past they were trained up to be accurate navigators and better officers than the type of men who would deliberately cause international incidents in peace time at the behest of federal politicians.

So what has happened to the professional discipline and ethical perspective of senior naval officers and ships' captains since the Abbott Government came to power?

Review of positioning of vessels engaged in Operation Sovereign Borders

Joint media release

21-01-2014 –

The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS) and the Australian Defence Force have commenced a joint review into Australian vessels which entered Indonesian waters contrary to Australian Government policy, during operations conducted in association with Operation Sovereign Borders.

The review was announced by Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, the Hon Scott Morrison MP, and Commander Joint Agency Task Force Lieutenant General Angus Campbell DSC, AM, on Friday 17 January 2014. The review will be co-chaired by senior officers from the ACBPS and the Australian Defence Force.

ACBPS and Defence acknowledge the seriousness of this matter and the urgency required as a consequence of the importance of our relationship with Indonesia.

The joint review will focus on the circumstances leading to the entry of Australian vessels into Indonesian waters. Specifically, the review will assess the sequence of events and cause of Australian vessels entering into Indonesian waters in connection with Operation Sovereign Borders.

The joint review will identify any potential procedural weaknesses or deficiencies in maritime operations and make recommendations to ensure that any immediate operational policy or procedure issues are highlighted and rectified promptly.

ACBPS and Defence expect to complete the report in the coming weeks. At that time, the ACBPS Chief Executive Officer and Chief of the Defence Force will consider release of the review’s findings.

Media contact:

Customs and Border Protection Media (02) 6275 6793

Defence Media Operations (02) 6127 1999

Note:

The review’s Terms of Reference are attached.

Snapshot from the 

Terms of Reference – Review of Operation Sovereign Borders vessel positioning

Somewhat typically for a NSW North Coast Federal National Party politician, Page MP Kevin Hogan, is more concerned with medals than breaches of international law by the government of which he is a member.

United Nations asks Abbott Government to explain

ABC News 11 January 2014:

The UN refugee agency says it is awaiting an explanation from the Australian Government over reports asylum seeker boats have been forcibly returned to Indonesia.

Earlier this week, Indonesian police told the ABC that a second boat carrying asylum seekers had been forced back to Indonesian waters by the Australian Navy.

The first boat was found shortly before Christmas on the island of Rote, in Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara region.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is warning such actions may place Australia in breach of its obligations under international law.

"UNHCR is seeking details from the Australian parties about these recent reports," said spokesman Babar Baloch.

The agency is also investigating reports of plans to provide lifeboats for asylum seekers for future push-backs.

"For the UNHCR it's a very concerning policy or practice if it involves pushing asylum seeker boats back out to sea without proper consideration of individuals who need international protection," said Mr Baloch.

"Any such approach would raise significant issues and potentially could place Australia in breach of its obligations under the Refugee Convention and international law.

"If people who are in need for international protection seek a country's safety, then they must be allowed to go through a process which helps to determine if these people are in need."

Media reports indicate that up to five asylum seeker boats were towed back/pushed back in recent months and, it is possible that as many as 361 asylum seekers may have been involved since 18 September 2013.

So exactly where is the Australian Navy's favourite asylum seeker dumping ground?

This is Rote Island, just off the tip of West Timor in Indonesia. It is approximately 500kms north-east of Australia, has a population of a little over 100,000 people and appears to be the Australian Navy’s preferred dumping ground for those asylum seekers the Abbott Government rejects out-of-hand without interview or assessment.

Click on image to enlarge

This is where Rote Island is positioned in relation to Australia’s Maritime borders and Australia-Indonesia treaty boundaries:

Click on images to enlarge

On 10 January 2014 The Australian reported:

Immigration and Border Protection Minister Scott Morrison issued a statement yesterday saying he would not comment on operations "on water", but he indicated that if Australian warships or Customs patrol boats had towed asylum-seeker vessels, they did not enter Indonesia's 12-nautical-mile territorial limit.

If this statement is correct in relying on territorial waters as the only significant boundary, then it is possible that the Australian Navy had control in international waters of one or more of the five vessels suspected of being turned around/towed back. A rather dubious proposition.

However, the situation worsens, for one televised media report suggests that Australian Navy personnel deliberately disabled an asylum seeker boat on the open sea and then abandoned it:

http://youtu.be/jXF0fqDtnlg

Despite the Abbott Government refusing to give any details of these turn around/tow backs, reports are emerging that Indonesia is not happy with the situation.

The Sydney Morning Herald 10 January 2013:

Australia's turning back of at least one asylum-seeker boat to Indonesia has sparked political anger in Jakarta, with senior politicians warning it could further damage the already fraught relationship.

The anger came as video emerged of Royal Australian Navy personnel boarding an asylum-seeker boat whose passengers claim they were intercepted near Darwin and towed back to Indonesia over a period of six days....

Mahfudz Siddiq, head of the Indonesian parliament's foreign affairs committee, demanded Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop sit down with her Indonesian counterpart Marty Natalegawa ''as soon as possible'' to explain.

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''The situation is not helpful. It will get worse for our bilateral relations,'' he said. ''Unless the situation is handled soon, I fear it will deteriorate further after the spying affair and the end of our military co-operation. I worry if the issue of people-smuggling is not resolved … it will inflame [this].''

Susaningtyas Nefo Handayani Kertopati, a member of the Indonesian parliament's oversight commission on international affairs, urged Jakarta to make a stern response to Australia, which she accused of having an ''extreme attitude'' on people-smuggling. ''The government should not be ambivalent or hesitant in addressing Australia's extreme attitude. It must deal with it seriously,'' she said.

Seven News on Thursday night aired mobile phone footage purportedly filmed by asylum seekers of Royal Australian Navy personnel boarding their boat.

The asylum seekers claimed they were intercepted near Darwin on January 1 and towed for six days back to Indonesian waters. Some have said they were mistreated....

Given that up to five more asylum seeker boats were allegedly heading towards Australia in December 2013-January 2014 than were reported in Operation Sovereign Borders media releases, then this situation also makes a mockery of Abbott's claims about asylum seekers numbers.

Abbott's adviser deletes Twitter account now the damage is done - blames death threats

Mark Textor an adviser to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has deleted his Twitter account @markatextor after employing the same boots and all approach to Australia-Indonesia relations as Abbott himself.

Textor claimed he could not tolerate the 'death threats' received since he sent the tweets set out below, however if these alleged threats happened they must be thin on the ground because the Topsy archive carries little or no trace of these threats as far as I can tell.

Indeed the twitterverse was more likely to respond with comments such as You are a bogan moron, end of story or "Conduct unbecoming?" Don't f*cking flatter yourself, no one expects anything better from you.

Time online 22 November 2013:

Textor has admitted he slipped up. "Twenty-five years in politics, one or two mistakes, this is certainly one of them," he said Thursday.

As we ponder what the other mistake of his career could be, here are some of his mud-slinging tweets preserved for posterity.

The one where he brought up the 2005 suicide attack in Bali and linked to a photo of the bombers

"Last time I looked no Indonesians were ever bombed in Australia" (removed from Twitter)

The one where he slammed Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's propensity to use Twitter

"What sort of head of state communicates with a head of a neighbouring government by twitter FFS? SBY" (removed from Twitter)

The one where he gave tips for saving on apparently alcoholic beverages to the leader of the country with the biggest Muslim population in the world

@Drew_Bowie @Colvinius @SBYudhoyono @TonyAbbottMHR I think he should sack his foreign service and just do twitter. Save on the drinks bill

— Mark Textor (@markatextor) November 19, 2013

The one where he predicted journalists would find Indonesia's relationship with Australia sexually arousing…

Indonesian junior official criticises Oz Government. 2 things happen: left media gets hard on. Govt gets more domestic support

— Mark Textor (@markatextor) November 11, 2013

… but that anyone who mattered didn't care if Indonesians were offended

"No one gives a rat's arse in the real world. The bubble at work." (removed from Twitter)

The one where he described Indonesia's ambassador to Australia as a chess piece

Indonesian ambassador Read: Pawn of Indonesian domestic politics #indonesiavotes2014

— Mark Textor (@markatextor) November 18, 2013

The one where he implied the Indonesian President was senile

"Poor old bugger SBY is confused." (removed from Twitter)

The one where he re-tweeted a political reporter's response to his porn star slur

@latikambourke @markatextor Personally I disagree Mark. Marty looks more like a bad 70′s Bond villain.

When he reacted to the controversy over his porn star slur

@cathywilcox1 @jonathanvswan it's dull. Silly, gossipy and moronic. Compensated for by fake moral outrage and intellectual snobbery.

— Mark Textor (@markatextor) November 19, 2013

The time he claimed Indonesia's reaction to the spying controversy was fake

@PetefromHayNSW I think we act peacefully. But the fake indo outrage posturing is frustrating.

— Mark Textor (@markatextor) November 19, 2013

The one where he demanded Indonesia apologize for spying in 2004

SBY should apologise. "Indonesia 'bugged' Australia By Brendan Nicholson National Security Correspondent Canberra November 15, 2004″

— Mark Textor (@markatextor) November 19, 2013

The one where he took a dig at Australia's public broadcaster and gossip columnists

@latikambourke Where did i mention SBY exactly? More ABC inaccurate nonsense. More ant rooting from glorified gossip columnists

Front page mock up courtesy of @lol_trotsky

Miranda Devine's conspiracy theory travels into regional NSW

On 26 October 2013 Prime Minister Tony Abbott had a handful of right wing media trolls to dinner at Kirribilli House and one, Miranda Devine, returned this hospitality by obligingly beginning  a conspiracy theory on 20 November about the timing of Fairfax media reports on Australia’s spying activities in Indonesia.

Why did The Guardian sit on its bombshell allegations about Australia spying on Indonesia for five months? Ms. Devine began, went on to imply the timing was suspect, then demolished her own argument by including some inconvenient facts.

Andrew Bolt hopped on the bandwagon (along with fellow dinner invitees Greg Sheridan and Paul Sheehan) on 21 November and hasn’t exhausted his vitriol yet.

Her theory was also quickly picked up by a Northern Rivers troll who ditched the inconvenient facts and sent off a letter to the editor which was published in The Daily Examiner on 21 November 2013:

Leftwing nonsense

According to the latest revelations by the ABC, Australian spies have had their eyes and ears focused on Indonesia for years, intercepting the president's telephone calls at will and generally doing what spies are paid to do.

Shock, horror in Indonesia and threats to disembowel present relations with Australia, while the ALP demands PM Tony Abbott apologise and the ABC lovingly stirs the pot.

The question here is just when did this ABC/Guardian coalition really discover these damning revelations considering the so-called Snowden leaks have been about for quite a while, certainly before September 7, 2013, and the spying claims relate to the period of the previous Labor/Green government.

Why now with relations with Indonesia at a critical point, and not at any period of time between 2007, a year Snowden alludes to, and September 6, 2013, the six years Rudd/Gillard/Rudd took turns in the captain's cabin steering us in circles?

The election loss really got up the noses of Labor and the Green lefties and this sort of nonsense designed to detract from the workings of the new government is a good reminder of just why we voted them out en masse.

Fred Perring,
Halfway Creek

Almost as quickly, the Perring version of this conspiracy theory was knocked down in another letter to the editor on 23 November 2013:

No conspiracy

Fred Perring [The Daily Examiner, November 21, 2013] is hot on the heels of what he obviously believes is a possible Guardian Australia-ABC conspiracy, with regard to their reporting of alleged spying on the Indonesian President, his wife and assorted ministers/advisers.

"Why now, with relations with Indonesia at a critical point, and not at any period of time between 2007, a year Snowden alludes to, and September6, 2013, the six years Rudd/Gillard/Rudd took turns in the captain's cabin steering us in circles?" he asks, concerning publication of these news articles.

Now let me see - the public record shows that the original story broke on June 5, 2013, that the US National Security Agency was collecting metadata from internet service providers' records of phone calls.

The whistleblower revealed his identity on or about June 9, and then revealed Australia's links to the spy web, with a map identifying the location of Australian assets assisting American Government covert operations.

Between June 16-27 it became obvious that Snowden had taken a large number of classified intelligence documents and was releasing them to select international media as a single information transfer.

On October 31, the National Security Agency (NSA) admitted that the classified documents stolen numbered somewhere between 50,000 and 200,000 individual documents.

The agency also admitted it had no way of knowing precisely which documents had been accessed until the media reported on them.

ASIO has conducted an audit of documents it shared with foreign intelligence agencies, but the Department Of Defence's Signals Directorate remains silent on whether it was aware that its documents has gone feral, before Guardian Australia and the ABC jointly reported on the directorate's alleged spying activities.

Now, if we take NSA's conservative estimate of 50,000 documents available to the media, a news agency would have to read and check the details of at least 295 intelligence documents a day to have opened all the documents by the day I write this letter.

All of which points to the fact that The Guardian UK did not have these documents before June 5, and has not yet completed reviewing all the documents in its possession.

In fact, according to evidence before a November 19 Senate Estimates Environment and Communications Legislation Committee hearing, The Guardian UK did not give Guardian Australia access to the relevant documents until November, and the ABC was not alerted to the existence of documents outlining alleged spying on Indonesia until approximately 24 hours after Guardian Australia came into possession of these documents.

Senate Estimates evidence also revealed that the ABC consulted with government authorities prior to publication and "in light of representations that were made, a decision was made to withdraw some elements" of these sensitive documents.

So on the basis of the publicly available timetable of the Snowden leak, it was impossible for the ABC to publish any details between 2007 and September 6, 2013; and therefore Mr Perring's conspiracy theory fails.

JUDITH M. MELVILLE

Yamba

President Yudhoyono tweets his displeasure and Prime Minister Abbott puts his foot in his own mouth yet again

 

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told the 4 million plus people following his Twitter account exactly what he thought of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott:

S. B. Yudhoyono ‏@SBYudhoyono

Since news broke reports of US & Australia tapping on many countries, including Indonesia, we have expressed our strong protest. *SBY*

S. B. Yudhoyono ‏@SBYudhoyono

Foreign Minister & gov. officials have taken effective diplomatic measures, while demanding clarification from the US & Australia. *SBY*

S. B. Yudhoyono ‏@SBYudhoyono

Today (18Nov) I instructed Minister Marty Natalegawa to recall Indonesia's ambassador to Australia. This is a firm diplomatic response.*SBY*

S. B. Yudhoyono ‏@SBYudhoyono

Indonesia also demands Australia for an official response, one that can be understood by the public, on the tapping on Indonesia. *SBY*

S. B. Yudhoyono ‏@SBYudhoyono

We will also review a number of bilateral cooperation agenda as a consequence of this hurtful action by Australia. *SBY*

S. B. Yudhoyono ‏@SBYudhoyono

These US & Australian actions have certainly damaged the strategic partnerships with Indonesia, as fellow democracies. *SBY*

S. B. Yudhoyono ‏@SBYudhoyono

I also regret the statement of Australian Prime Minister that belittled this tapping matter on Indonesia, without any remorse. *SBY*

On 19 November 2013 Prime Minister Abbott rose to his feet in the House of Representatives and added more fuel to the fire:

Mr ABBOTT (Warringah—Prime Minister) (14:01): by leave—......I regard President Yudhoyono as a good friend of Australia—indeed, as one of the very best friends that we have anywhere in the world. That is why I sincerely regret any embarrassment that recent media reports have caused him.

The immediate Indonesian response was widely reported in the Jakarta Post and elsewhere:

Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said on Tuesday that Australia not Indonesia should be embarrassed following the disclosure of a document suggesting that Australian spies had wiretapped the personal phones of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and First Lady Ani Yudhoyono.

"I don't get it. Why would the President of Indonesia be embarrassed?" Marty said in an exclusive interview with Channel News Asia.

By 21 November in a The Sydney Morning Herald article the outcome was becoming clearer, the situation having been moved along by hostile tweets from Abbott's political pollster and adviser, Mark Textor and unhelpful remarks by former Coalition Foreign Minister AlexanderDowner: 

The President spoke warmly of the relationship with Australia, but said he had ordered the suspension or review of several areas of co-operation, particularly on information sharing and the exchange of intelligence.

"I have also asked my military to temporarily stop the joint army and navy exercises and also to temporarily stop any co-ordinated military operations, the joint patrols,'' he said.

"As you know, the people-smuggling issue has troubled both Indonesia and Australia, so we have co-ordinated military operations or co-ordinated patrols in the ocean, but until this issue is all clear it will be stopped."...

Tony will have nothing to complain about when foreign intelligence services start digging for 'information' about Margie

Leigh, all countries, all governments gather information. That's hardly a surprise. It's hardly a shock. We use the information that we gather for good: Tony Abbott 13 November 2013

The snapshot below shows one face of the Australian intelligence gathering situation in Indonesia in 2009. However, it is likely little has changed given Prime Minister Tony Abbott has classified Australian Government spying as information gathering used for good and, repeated a similar claim in Parliament on 18 November 2013.

Indonesia is less than happy with the fact that our intelligence services spied on the president, his wife and a number of high-ranking politicians.

According to the Jakarta Globe on 18 November: “We are not satisfied with the dismissive explanations from Australia,” Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said at a press conference on Monday. “We are recalling our ambassador from Australia for consultation.”

This has been an impressive political performance by Prime Minister Abbott and Foreign Minister Bishop - it took them a mere 61 days after assuming office to reduce Australia's relationship with Indonesia to its lowest point since 1998-99.

There is a hint that a number of 'don't quote me but' briefings to journalists are occurring in an effort to create a political back story which will shore up the case for the 2009 spying episode.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/18/slides-australian-yudhoyono-phone-indonesia?CMP=twt_gu

The Guardian 18 November 2013:

Australia's spy agencies have attempted to listen in on the personal phone calls of the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and have targeted the mobile phones of his wife, senior ministers and confidants, a top secret document from whistleblower Edward Snowden reveals.

The document, dated November 2009, names the president and nine of his inner circle as targets of the surveillance, including the vice-president, Boediono, who last week visited Australia. Other named targets include ministers from the time who are now possible candidates in next year's Indonesian presidential election, and the first lady, Kristiani Herawati, better known as Ani Yudhoyono.

When a separate document from Snowden, a former contractor to the US's National Security Agency (NSA), showed Australia had spied on Indonesia and other countries from its embassies, the Indonesian foreign minister, Marty Natalegawa, reacted angrily and threatened to review co-operation on issues crucial to Australia such as people smuggling and terrorism.

The revelation strained a bilateral relationship already under pressure over the Abbott government's policy to “turn back” boats of asylum seekers coming to Australia. The new leak, published jointly by Guardian Australia and the ABC, reveals the specific top-level targets and is likely to seriously escalate those tensions......