Re your posts above. I've assembled below and responded to some of your points and queries that I may not have previously addressed:
a. Why no apology from Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard?:
I have NO authority to respond on their behalf! I do note that they are not our PM and by doing so would compromise national security. It's even possible they had no idea what our 'information gathering agencies' were doing - it would not be in our interests for that to be made public either.
b. Why compromise national security [ie. Tony Abbott]: Abbott must not do that! He must act in Australia's national interest and use his Rhodes Scholar refined intellect to construct a way out the mess that he has allowed to fester.
c. "... SBY is a grown man, and probably not a complete idiot ...": Even Abbott has lauded Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as one of Australia's best friends; acknowledging the positive difference he has made to Australia-Indonesia relations. Sadly media reports and SBY's own tweets indicate that Abbott's responses have made SBY feel that way - having gone in to bat for Australia as President, he has now 'lost face' in Indonesia [a huge issue in Javanese culture]. Very much to SBY's credit; he has repeatedly given Abbott the opportunity to respond and has now even done so in writing.
d. "... SBY smells blood in the water ...": That would be out of character with his past behaviour but I suspect there may be some influential and faceless people in Indonesia who see what has happened as a chance to diminish SBY and either pressure him into changing directions or to replace him with another who will do that more emphatically.
e. "... This seems to be one part of the socialist sabotage plot that comrade lapdog curiously seems to be completely aware of and vocally supporting ...": Those baseless and completely unfounded erroneous allegations would indefensible in court. That aside, I enjoy robust political debate and merely request just that; ie. robust debate!
f. "...Soon of course Malaysia, Vietnam, China etc. will see the game and follow on ...": That partly explains why I posted early in the piece about the need for Tony Abbott to resolve this quickly. The longer Abbott allows it to fester the worse the situation becomes for Australia and there's no doubt other nations will line up to fill any void we leave in regional security, investment and trade.
