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Scott Morrison admits Australia strayed into Indonesian waters Australia 'unreservedly apologises' for naval incursion into Indonesian waters
(about 1 hour later)
Scott Morrison says the government has apologised to Indonesia after Australian authorities "inadvertently" breached Indonesian territorial waters while conducting border protection operations. The Australian government has “unreservedly apologised” to the Indonesian government after it discovered navy vessels had mistakenly entered Indonesian waters several times while conducting Operation Sovereign Borders.
The immigration minister said on Friday that the government received information on Wednesday afternoon that Australian authorities had entered Indonesian waters on several occasions, in breach of Australian government policy. The foreign minister, Julie Bishop, unsuccessfully tried to call her Indonesian counterpart, Marty Natalegawa, on Thursday night to “offer an unqualified apology on behalf of the Australian government … and to provide an assurance that such a breach would not occur again”.
"This was done unintentionally and without knowledge or sanction by the Australian government," he told reporters in Canberra. The chief of navy, Vice-Admiral Ray Griggs, has also called his Indonesian counterpart, Admiral Marsetio, to explain and express regret, and the Australian mission in Jakarta will also deliver a formal apology on Friday – efforts all clearly aimed at mollifying the likely angry reaction from Indonesia, which is particularly sensitive to violation of its maritime boundaries.
He said the foreign minister, Julie Bishop, apologised to her Indonesian counterpart, Marty Natelegawa, on Thursday. The incursions were caused by “positional errors in the movements of our vessels”, Lt Gen Angus Campbell said, and occurred several times on more than one day. He said the commanders of the vessels always thought that they were in international waters and said he had put in place “some measures” to make sure it did not happen again.
On Wednesday the immigration minister, Scott Morrison, and Campbell gave a briefing, the minister insisting: “Australia also respects Indonesia's territorial sovereignty. Our operations reflect this commitment to the government of Indonesia, and will continue to do so, and any suggestion to the contrary is false.”
But on Friday morning, he and Campbell called another briefing to reveal there had been several inadvertent incursions into Indonesian waters, to express the government’s “deep regret” that this had happened, and to announce that the incidents were being investigated by a review set up by the Australian Customs Service and the chief of the defence force, who are jointly response for border command.
Morrison and Campbell did not say how long it would take to undertake the review, and said any public release of its findings were up to those undertaking it.
“The report will be the property of the chief executive of the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service and the chief of the defence force. It will be up to them to determine whether it is released,” Morrison said.
The mistake was discovered on Wednesday afternoon, when an official at Operation Sovereign Borders was reviewing reports from the vessels involved, with Campbell immediately informing the minister. Officials then went back through earlier vessel reports.
Indonesia had already reacted angrily to Australia’s apparent policy of towing asylum seeker boats back to the Indonesian maritime border and then leaving asylum seekers in newly-purchased lifeboats with just enough fuel to get back to Indonesia.
"Developments of the type that has been reported in the media, namely the facilitation by way of boats, this is the kind of slippery slope that we have identified in the past," Natalegawa said. "Where will this lead to?"
Morrison and Campbell refuse to discuss anything that Operation Sovereign Borders does “on water”. Campbell also refused to say whether the government still had all of the lifeboats it had purchased – despite reports that at least one had been used to push asylum seekers back to Indonesia.
“As I indicated, I am not going to comment on the potential or actual use of the lifeboats,” he said.
But – responding to multiple accounts from asylum seekers who said they had been towed back to Indonesia while being told they were being taken to Christmas Island – Campbell said, “It is very clear the orders do not invite Australian personnel to lie.”
Morrison insisted the Australian government would not “let this setback get in the way of the job we were elected to do, and that is to stop the boats.”
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