The prime minister, Tony Abbott, says Australian border protection vessels may have ventured into Indonesian waters because personnel were distracted by the wind or tides.

Abbott was asked on Tuesday to explain how highly skilled and well-resourced naval and border protection professionals could have been unclear about the location of a maritime border with a key regional neighbour.

The Abbott government made repeated public assurances Australia would respect Indonesia’s maritime border as it intensified efforts to turn back to Java boats carrying asylum seekers as part of its Operation Sovereign Borders policy, a policy to which the Indonesian government has publicly objected.

Then it emerged Australian boats had made incursions by accident into Indonesian waters, a development that reignited diplomatic and strategic tensions and prompted Indonesia to make a public show of deploying naval assets to the region.

Defence and customs have launched an investigation into the incidents, which occurred between early December and January. The inquiry will report when federal parliament resumes next month. It is unclear whether the findings will be made public.

During a press conference confirming the appointment of the new governor general, Peter Cosgrove, Abbott said the government had apologised to Jakarta for the incursions, and the apology had been accepted.

Pressed further on how the incidents could have occurred given the sophisticated technology on the vessels and the skills of the personnel involved, he proffered the following theories, including a sporting analogy.

On-water operations were complex and even elite professionals made human errors.

“On the high seas all sorts of things happen; there are winds, there are tides, there are other things that they're focusing on,” he said.

“I have nothing but total respect for the professionalism of our naval personnel, for the professionalism of our customs personnel but, even people who are at the very top of their game, even people who are the very best at their job, will occasionally make mistakes.

“Test cricketers occasionally drop catches, great footballers occasionally miss tackles and, regretfully, there were a couple of occasions when this mistake was made – but it won't happen again.”

Abbott emphasised the success of his contentious policy of stopping boats carrying asylum seekers from achieving their objective of reaching Australia.

“We have fully implemented the policy that we said we would implement prior to the election and I think we've gone almost 40 days without a boat actually getting to Australia.

“That's the important point to make here.”


http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/28/navy-indonesian-incursions-after-wind-tide-distractions


I seen another quote of Abbott about 3 weeks ago that he said that Solar Panels are not that good as the sun doesn't shine everyday.

I wish I could find it now

The Navy entered Indonesian waters up to seven times despite having the best navigation aides available......If they where professional sportsmen they would have been dropped from the team by now!!!

::) ::) ::)

John S wrote on Jan 29^th, 2014 at 7:06am:

I seen another quote of Abbott about 3 weeks ago that he said that Solar Panels are not that good as the sun doesn't shine everyday. I wish I could find it now

In an interview on 2GB last Thursday, the Prime Minister gave coal the thumbs up while criticising renewable energy.
    



"The problem at this stage with renewable energy is that there's always got to be a back up because sometimes the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow. If the sun doesn't shines and the wind doesn't blow, the power doesn't flow."


http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=4122




What a total BUFFOON Abbott must appear on the world stage - not forgetting his claim in a speech a few days back to the World Economic Forum - that one of the  BEST economies in the WORLD that his party inherited - is actually one of the WORST, due to the last Labor Government

buzzanddidj wrote on Jan 29^th, 2014 at 7:52am:

John S wrote on Jan 29th, 2014 at 7:06am: I seen another quote of Abbott about 3 weeks ago that he said that Solar Panels are not that good as the sun doesn't shine everyday. I wish I could find it now "The problem at this stage with renewable energy is that there's always got to be a back up because sometimes the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow. If the sun doesn't shines and the wind doesn't blow, the power doesn't flow." http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=4122

That the quote I saw thanks buzz

If Abbott done a little bit of reading he would know that it is infra red that produce power in solar panel not sun light.

I have seen wind towers turning when there has been no wind at all

That total CRAP about renewables needing fossil fuel backup, which is 100% wrong, is a claim made by one of the IPA creeps who might get appointed to a panel to review renewable energy:


Quote:

The renewable energy industry in Australia might be tempted to pack their bags and find another country to conduct their business if the latest talk in Canberra is true: sources say that the Abbott government will name Alan Moran, an anti-renewable zealot from the Institute of Public Affairs, to a new panel that will review the Renewable Energy Target. According to sources, Moran will be one of three or four business people appointed to an “independent” panel that will get secretarial support from the department of Prime Minister and Cabinet – rather than the department of Environment, or the department of Industry, which includes Energy. If true, that will ensure that the panel is closely monitored by Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s inner core, who include the climate change contrarion and anti-wind advocate Maurice Newman – his chief business advisor – and others from the conservative hard right who neither accept the science of climate change, nor the attraction of renewable energy. And if true, it will shape up as a disaster for the renewable energy industry in Australia, which has already ground to a halt because of policy uncertainty, and which could face not just the possibility of the RET being diluted, but removed altogether. The Abbott government is insisting on another review of the supposed health impacts of wind farms, despite not releasing a report from its main medical body, and there is also talk that the government support for rooftop solar will also be removed. alan moranMoran has famously hard-nosed views about renewables, and wind and solar in particular. In a panel discussion at Clean Energy Week in 2012, even former Senator Nick Minchin, the man who orchestrated Abbott’s rise to power and the scrapping of bipartisan climate policy, said Moran made him “look like a pinko”. Moran, like others from the IPA, including former head and now WA Energy Minister Mike Nahan, believe wind and solar don’t work, don’t cause abatement, and need like-for-like fossil fuel backup and constant spinning reserve, a myth that is repeated ad nauseum by conservative commentators. When asked, at Clean Energy Week in 2012, of his vision of the future, Moran’ response was to look 50 years into the past. “We had communism then, we got the Greens now,” he grumbled. He said the energy profile in the 1960s was not much different from today, and “I expect that continue into the future.” Moran’s appointment would be consistent with recent appointments made by the Abbott government. Another prominent IPA policy analyst, Tim Wilson, was appointed late last year to be a commissioner with the Human Rights Commission, a body he had argued should not exist. Moran, who is the head of the IPA’s deregulation unit, last year was one of the main speakers at a poorly-attended anti-wind rally in Canberra, which described the RET as a fraud. He described wind and solar as costly and “low quality”, said their costs were amplified by the need for back up in terms of fast-start conventional businesses, an were “imposing a huge burden on consumers and businesses.” Abbott has been adopting many of these lines in his recent talking points. As has Newman.

http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/tony-abbott-appoint-ipa-renewables-review-45647

I guess the simian only wants his prejudices reflected back at him. What an idiot!

John S wrote on Jan 29^th, 2014 at 8:01am:

If Abbott done a little bit of reading he would know that it is infra red that produce power in solar panel not sun light. I have seen wind towers turning when there has been no wind at all

You can definitely extract thermal energy from infrared spectrum but in most meaning solar panels use visible light, not for example the light from a bar radiator.

And I was intrigued by your description of wind towers turning when there is no wind, are you talking convection currents here?  And how much energy do you think can be extracted from these. 

I have a little joke gift I got from a friend, it has a tiny solar panel which drives a tiny motor that makes two plastic “leaves” and a plastic “flower” wave up and down. I put it together and put it on the south-facing window sill near my desk. Been there a couple of years.

Amazing! Without direct sunlight it still generates enough electricity to wave the leaves and flower. On cold overcast days, no direct sunlight—still generates enough electricity to wave the leaves and flower.

Tony Abbott knows nothing about solar PV or anything much about anything really.

maybe Tony could ask the girl guides to show him how to navigate????