Tony Abbott first interview since leadership coup with Ray Hadley.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott interviewed by Ray Hadley

Lanai Scarr National Political Reporter
The Daily Telegraph
September 29,2015.

TONY Abbott is confident he would have won the next election had he been left as Prime Minister.

The dumped PM, who lost his job to Malcolm Turnbull in a coup two weeks ago, this morning dismissed negative opinion polls and said he had never done well in public opinion polls.

“I am confident that if I had continued at head of this government that’s what we would have had (a victory),” Mr Abbott told 2GB’s Ray Hadley.

“If you look at my polling I’ve always done badly in the polls.

“You can be not popular in the ratings and at the same time lead a very effective opposition and government.”

Mr Abbott said internal party polling in the lead up to the Canning by-election showed the Liberal party would have won 57 per cent of the vote which is about what the final result was on the day.

He said the timing of the leadership spill was carefully coordinated to ensure a challenge was successful.

Turnbull wins Liberal leadership

“Because a strong result in Canning would have put paid to this notion that somehow I wouldn’t survive the next election,” Mr Abbott said.

He said he was doing OK after losing the nation’s top job, however was still not yet ready to make a decision on his future.

“57-years-old is still young,” he said of his age.

“I’m not ready to retire and I still have a lot to contribute to public life.”

Mr Abbott also lamented that he never watched his back while Prime Minister which may have led to his demise.

“I never believed in watching my own back,” Mr Abbott said in his first public interview since being rolled.

“Any leader who is watching his back is not focusing on the main job at hand. If the leader ever starts to play internal politics than the leader is in trouble.

“I always knew that politics was a brutal bruising business. It is a game of snakes and ladders and I’ve got a snake at the moment.”

Mr Abbott urged voters to stick with the Coalition at the next election and Malcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister.

“I can appreciate there are a lot of people out there who are dismayed by what has happened,” he said.

“But it would be even worse if we end up with the sixth prime minister in six years.”

Mr Abbott also denied that he ever thought about cutting loose former Treasurer Joe Hockey and his chief-of-staff Peta Credlin in order to placate any push for a change of leader.

“The idea that those people hungry for advancement would be mollified by if Joe went or my chief-of-staff is just wrong,” he said.

“They were not going to be put off if they were thrown a few human sacrifices and it is wrong to feed this beast.

“Joe and I were blood brothers when it comes to economic policy. The idea that I would have sacrificed Joe to save myself is just dead wrong.”

Mr Abbott also refused to weigh in on if he felt betrayed by his former deputy Julie Bishop and close ally Scott Morrison.

“I’d rather focus on the good work that they did,” he said.

“In the end all of us have got to answer to God and our consciousnesses and I am not going to get into who should have said what.”

On Scott Morrison in particular, Mr Abbott said: “At some point in time I’m sure we’ll have a conversation and we will resolve these things.”

Mr Abbott also urged politicians to stop the revolving door of prime ministers for the sake of the nation.

“This is a real problem for our country. The government can’t do what is necessary if you are subject to death by polls,” he said.

“We’ve had five prime ministers in five years. We are worse than Italy and only just better than Greece.

“For a country that has always had stable and effective government this is hardly the face we want to put to the world.”


Malcolm Turnbull acted when he did because he knew Canning by-election would strengthen Tony Abbott

Daniel Meers
The Daily Telegraph
September 29 2015.

FORMER Prime Minister Tony Abbott says Malcolm Turnbull executed him the week before the Canning by-election because he was on track for a strong result at the Canning ballot box.

In a 30 minute interview with Radio 2GB host Ray Hadley, aired live on television, Mr Abbott said his executioners were aware internal polling in Canning showed the government was on track for 57 per cent of the vote.

“One of the reasons why the ballot had to be brought on the week it was brought on by the proponents of a ballot was because a strong result in Canning, which is what we were going to get, would have put 

paid to this notion that somehow I was unelectable because of the polls,’’ he said.

-------------------------------------------

The Truth about Tony Abbott............

Loss of Tony Abbott as prime minister is a time of sorrow

Andrew Bolt
The Daily Telegraph
September 28 2015

NOW Tony Abbott is gone I can finally tell the truth about him. Folks, you made a big mistake with this bloke.

No, no. The mistake wasn’t that you voted for him.

In fact, you got one of the finest human beings to be Prime Minister.

In many ways he seemed too moral for the job, yet he achieved more in two years than the last two Labor prime ministers achieved in six.

Compare. Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard left us with record deficits after blowing billions on trash — on overpriced school halls, “free” insulation that killed people, green schemes that collapsed, “stimulus” checks to the dead.

They meanwhile opened our borders to 50,000 illegal immigrants and drowned 1200. They hyped the global warming scare and forced us to pay a job-killing carbon tax just to pretend they were saving us.

But Abbott? I won’t go through the whole list: how he stopped the boats, curbed spending, scrapped the useless carbon and mining taxes, led the world’s defiance of deadly Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and made us safer from terrorism.

He even signed three free trade deals to secure jobs for our kids — including one with China that the last three governments couldn’t clinch.

And he did all this in the face of astonishing heckling and even vilification from our media class, and despite often feral opposition in the Senate.

But your mistake was not to care about all that. Deeds didn’t count with you. Image was all.

And so you told the pollsters you didn’t like Abbott. You believed the vicious crap written about him, until his MPs finally panicked and dumped him.

Your mistake was that you couldn’t look behind the flim flam — the way Abbott looked, the way he spoke, the way he walked, the way he ate an onion — to see what he’d actually done for you and for your country.

You even laughed at some of his finest qualities and emblems of his public service. Journalists ridiculed his work as a lifesaver by mocking his costume and body hair. They dismissed his fire fighting service as just a photo-op. Wrote off his patriotism as bigotry.

When he defended women, he was called insincere. When he warned that our finances were in strife or that terrorism menaced us, they called him a scaremonger.

And you believed them. You let people treat like absolute dirt a man who had a record of volunteerism no prime minister has equalled — working in Aboriginal communities, lifesaving, firefighting, helping people in natural disasters, and raising money for women’s shelters and a hospice for dying children.

And none of it was done just to puff his CV for an election pamphlet.

The only reason I know Abbott helped people secure their homes after one Sydney storm is that my wife’s uncle asked the head of the team getting the tree off his house if that really was Abbott over there, helping to cut it away.

Shush, said the captain. He doesn’t like people knowing.

Now, I must declare straight up — I call Tony Abbott a friend.

So you’ll call me biased. You’ll laugh that I can write this massive praise of him when almost everyone else is horse-laughing. And you’ll say that’s why I see more qualities in Abbott than are actually there.

BLOG WITH ANDREW BOLT

But you’ll just be making another mistake.

See, I don’t think Abbott is a great man because he’s my friend. He’s my friend because he’s a great man. Greater than the people who tore him down.

He’s my friend especially because he’s not those things that so many journalists wrote — including some who must have known what they wrote were lies.

Truth is that Abbott is not a thug, bully, racist, fool, liar, woman-hater, homophobe or bigot. He’s not cruel or lacking compassion.

If he were any of those things he would not be my friend. Those are deal breakers for me. Those I love best are people of honour, warmth and kindness.

Tony Abbott is one such man, and that he has been betrayed and deposed doesn’t just break my heart. It makes me fear for this country. I can only hope that Australians will one day wake up to what they’ve tossed away.

Sorry to sound so melodramatic, but here are some glimpses of the man I know — ones that put the lie to the trash that even big-name correspondents peddled about him.

A woman hater? Ask his daughters or female chief of staff. Ask the many women on his staff, so loyal that he had one of the lowest turnovers of modern prime ministers.

A crash-through insensitive bully with no people skills? Ask my children how gentle he was when he called around. Ask one of my 2GB listeners, Pat, who rang in to say how moved he was that Abbott, on the way to a crucial Question Time on the day the carbon tax was repealed, still had the time to ring Pat’s dying brother.

Or consider this: just minutes after Malcolm Turnbull told Abbott he was challenging for his job, Abbott still honoured a promise to meet girl guides, rather than hit the phones to save himself.

Too loyal? Well, true, yet when I once asked why he wouldn’t buy off his critics by sacking Joe Hockey as Treasurer, Abbott told me he knew Hockey actually had the talent to be great, and would be if given another chance.

A homophobe? Abbott actually had a deep friendship with one of my friends, too, the out-and-proud gay commentator Christopher Pearson, and even helped carry the coffin of this much-missed man.

In fact, when one Fairfax writer this year accused Abbott — on entirely fictitious evidence — of having had a “possibly homophobic” moment, a gay adviser on Abbott’s staff texted me in rage: “If PM was so homophobic he wouldn’t be sharing the C1 car with me.”

Every Prime Minister thinks they don’t get the press they deserve. But I bet Abbott’s friends would agree that none could have been so different in the flesh from what you read in the papers — and so much better. Shame on the journalists responsible for this great slander.

Yes, I know Abbott made mistakes, and I was hard on the worst. I know he was too stubborn. And I know he was clumsy in selling himself.

I admit I even quarrelled with him privately when he too-nobly refused to whack Labor leader Bill Shorten over some detail of national security.

No, the country before politics, he declared. I could have shaken the silly bugger, who played politics like it was cricket when everyone else was cage fighting.

God, he wouldn’t even do the populist thing and just promise to build our next submarines in Adelaide, and to hell with the cost or national interest.

But that was Abbott, and for me character always counts in the end.

That’s why I say: this country has despised and rejected a great servant. It is a time of sorrow.

------------------------------------

The Bolt Report: September 27 2015.

Alan Jones and Lord Monckton on why Australian PM Had to go

Alan Jones and Lord Monckton, September 23 2015

Alan Jones and Angus Taylor, September 3 2014.

Lord Monckton 2014

Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull announces new Affirmative Action Cabinet

Australia's Finest cheer Tony Abbott as he leaves office and makes his way home to Sydney's Northern Beaches.

Moving tribute for ousted PM Tony Abbott before last hurrah at Kirribilli House

Ben McClellan
The Daily Telegraph
September 19 2015.

AS he boarded his Royal Australian Air Force VIP jet for the last time, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott was given a round of applause by the crew in military uniform.

The touching gesture to a man, known on board as down to earth and polite, at Fairbairn air base in Canberra yesterday afternoon started Mr Abbott’s short trip to Sydney where he joined wife Margie to finish packing up their prime ministerial lives at Kirribilli House.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull departed in another RAAF jet an hour later.

Mr Abbott greeted his wife with a hug in the doorway before changing out of his suit and trademark blue tie and donning a blue jumper and jeans before packing his car.

Strapping his kayak to the top of his 1995 Mercedes-Benz 280, which he famously claimed in 2010 did not make him a “silvertail” because it was 15 years old, the former prime minister appeared like any 

other man moving home.

Margie Abbott scooped up their family dog Maisie as she carried flowers and a tennis ball thrower for the dog,

Why Abbott had to GO

Speaking publicly for the second time since his ousting on Monday, Mr Abbott told reporters outside the iconic waterfront property it had been a “tremendous honour” to serve his nation.

“Shortly, Margie and I will be driving out of Kirribilli House for the last time as residents,” he said.

“To the people of Australia, it has been a tremendous, a tremendous, honour to be your prime minister and I thank you very, very much indeed,” he said.

The Abbotts left in separate cars with Mr Abbott waving to the media as he drove off.

Despite driving off , he later returned to host a 40-year reunion for his former St Ignatius College classmates at Kirribilli House.

The swanky party for about 60 people was to celebrate a Saint Ignatius College, Riverview school reunion.

Mr Abbott could be seen swigging a beer as he eagerly awaited the class of 1975.

The first busload of guests arrived at 7.15pm on a Murrays Coach.

Mr Abbott barely showed his face outdoors except to meet and greet former school mates.

From beyond the gates of Kirribilli House, loud laughter, cheers and the rattling of bottles could be heard.
Just before 8pm a Murrays coach full of Mr Abbott’s former classmates arrived at the gate of the lodge.

The event had been planned a while ago and is being privately funded. Funds raised will go to charity, The Australian reports.

After two years at Kirribilli House, with its charming period setting and stunning harbour views, the Abbotts are set to return to their suburban home in the northern beaches suburb of Forestville.

Ray Hadley Scott Morrison four days after Liberal Party leadership coup d'état

Scott Morrison speaks with Ray Hadley four days AFTER Liberal Party leadership  coup d'état.

Scott Morrison speaks with Ray Hadley four days BEFORE Liberal Party leadership  coup d'état.

Scott Morrison tells Ray Hadley: ‘I voted for Tony Abbott but he threw Hockey under the bus’

LUCY CARNE AND DAVE MEDDOWS

Daily Telegraph

September 18, 2015 7:41am

Scott Morrison challenged to swear on Bible he didn’t undermine Abbott

Didn’t understand Abbott move to oust Hockey and give him Treasury

2GB host Ray Hadley insisted Abbott felt “betrayed” by Morrison

SCOTT Morrison has revealed the former Prime Minister Tony Abbott threw Treasurer Joe Hockey “under the bus” in an 11th hour bid to save his leadership.

In a fiery exchange with “good mate” Ray Hadley on 2GB this morning, the Social Services minister said he was shocked Mr Abbott offered him the role of treasurer in the lead up to the leadership spill.

“I didn’t understand it,” Mr Morrison said on 2GB.

“I didn’t understand how if we were to be successful that night, how we would explain that to the Australian people.

“I didn’t understand why he wanted me to pick a fight with Joe Hockey and throw him under the bus.”

Scott Morrison picks up the bible during his fiery debate with Ray Hadley on 2GB this morning.

Before his heated exchange on 2GB, Scott Morrison signed a hard hat that will be auctioned for charity. Picture: Twitter / Stephanie Borys

Mr Hadley pressed Mr Morrison to swear on the Bible that he had not plotted with the new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to overthrow Mr Abbott.

While Mr Morrison initially refused to bring faith into the argument, he flatly denied he undercut Tony Abbot to elevate Mr Turnbull.

“Absolutely not, I had no role in his demise,” Mr Morrison said.

Mr Hadley continued to press him, saying the Australian people had a right to know the truth. and the only way to do that was to swear on a Bible.

“I’m not going to use my faith for a stunt for your program,” Mr Morrison said.

“You get to judge my policies but you don’t get to judge my faith.”

Mr Hadley also revealed Mr Abbott felt “betrayed” by Mr Morrison, saying a source close to the former leader said he felt Mr Morrison had “blotted his copybook”.

“Mr Abbott thinks you ran with the foxes and hunted with the hounds,” Mr Hadley said.

A nonplussed Mr Morrison replied: “Well, he’s wrong ... At the end of the day I voted for Tony Abbott. I gave him utter loyalty for the entire time I served.”

“You get to judge my policies but you don’t get to judge my faith” — Scott Morrison

He also said he had not used the automatic deleting Wikr messaging service to secretly bolster support for Mr Turnbull with factional allies and had in fact warned Mr Abbott of an impending coup.

“I said on Friday to the PM’s office that things were pretty febrile and they should be on high alert,” he said.

Scott Morrison conceded Tony Abbott offered him the role of Treasurer in a bid to save himself

Ray Hadley had a fiery interview with Scott Morrison on his role in the Abbott coup

Mr Morrison also revealed he has not spoken to Mr Abbott since Monday night’s leadership ballot.

“I said good luck after the ballot and we shook hands,” he said.

Mr Morrison has been accused of deliberately “running dead” in the lead-up to the coup when he could have been rallying coalition troops to support the ousted leader.

It was revealed earlier this week that Mr Abbott had been warned by allies not to trust Mr Morrison as far back as May amid fears he would two-face the leader — offering support but allegedly double dealing behind his back.

Social Services Minister Scott Morrison speaks to the media after a radio interview with Ray Hadley in which he revealed Tony Abbott had offered him the position of Treasurer in a last-minute bid to save 

himself.

Concerns escalated last week before Mr Turnbull’s leadership challenge when it became obvious the Social Services Minister was not actively supporting Mr Abbott.

However witnesses told The Australian they saw Mr Morrison’s ballot paper in the Liberal Party room on Monday night and it showed he voted for Mr Abbott.

Mr Morrison is likely to benefit from the change of leadership having been tipped to take on the role of treasurer from Mr Hockey.

It comes as Liberal frontbencher Christopher Pyne told Mr Abbott he didn’t expect there would be a leadership challenge this week, 24 hours before he jumped ship and sided with Malcolm Turnbull.

The eduction minister confirmed on Friday that Mr Abbott had his support the day before the spill which resulted in him losing the prime ministership.

“The truth is on Sunday there was no leadership ballot, on Monday there was, then I made an assessment,” Mr Pyne told the Nine Network’s Today show this morning.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Minister for Social Services Scott Morrison at Parliament House in Canberra. Mr Morrison has been tipped to take on the new role of Treasurer.

Mr Pyne said Mr Abbott was given a warning by the party room in February and seven months later things still weren’t any better.

“It was very hard for anyone to argue that he wasn’t given absolutely every opportunity to prove that he was the best person to lead the party,” he said.

Mr Pyne, who has been mooted as a possible replacement for Kevin Andrew as Defence Minister, was one of the more high-profile Liberal MPs to back Mr Turnbull in Monday’s leadership vote.

Originally published as Hadley and Morrison in bible bust-up

Turnbull and Co might just pay for their disgraceful lack of character

Why Tony Abbott was dumped.Lord Monckton and The Great American Bubble Machine

Malcolm Turnbull will fail if he can’t heal the Liberal Party

Andrew Bolt 
The Daily Telegraph
September 17, 2015 

PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s biggest problem isn’t Bill Shorten. No, knocking off that soiled Labor leader should be a cinch. Far more dangerous to Turnbull are the Liberals disgusted by the treachery and deceit that went into assassinating former leader Tony Abbott.

There is almost a revulsion among influential MPs, not just with Turnbull but his deputy, Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop. There is even anger with Scott Morrison, until now a hero of conservatives and about to become Turnbull’s treasurer.

For some this is now a moral question. They know they should be loyal to their party. They know Turnbull can beat Shorten. And they know their duty is to help Turnbull do that, given how unfit Shorten is to lead this country.

Yet Turnbull’s plotters make their skin crawl. I’ve talked to MPs, even moderates, who are sickened. Some wonder why they got into politics or even whether they should join a new party. That just adds venom to the anger that many conservative Liberals already feel for Turnbull — for a man of the Left they think has hijacked their party.

Let me give three examples of the scheming that makes it hard for Turnbull to expect much loyalty in return.

First, there was Julie Bishop’s disloyal silence. As deputy Liberal leader, Bishop had a duty to warn Abbott of threats to his leadership.

Yet on Channel 10’s The Project this week, she admitted she had heard of the planned challenge to Abbott — announced on Monday — “in the days beforehand”, although she later claimed “I had no idea of the timing until the day before”.

But Bishop did not warn Abbott of Turnbull’s plot until Monday. She’d been waiting to have the reports “confirmed by others”, she said.

Oh, really?

To add to the suspicion, when Abbott rang Bishop’s mobile last Saturday to discuss rumours of this challenge, Bishop did not answer and took a full day to ring back. No wonder, perhaps. Bishop had spent that Saturday at a Sydney charity event where she’d met Turnbull.

That’s been too much for Liberal Premier Colin Barnett, of Bishop’s home state of Western Australia. He accused her of “duplicity”, adding: “And there’s probably been some disloyalty.”

Second, there was Scott Morrison’s refusal to help Abbott defeat Turnbull. Morrison, the Liberal who stopped the boats, was emerging as Abbott’s natural successor and the star of the Liberals’ conservative wing. On Monday morning, just hours before Turnbull sprang his trap, Morrison insisted on 2GB he had “no idea” of any possible challenge. He said he was an Abbott supporter, so “if they were (plotting) they would not be talking to me”.

Interesting to hear Morrison talking to Hadley the morning of the coup he maintains total ignorance of. Tomorrow he will again appear on the Hadley show It will be an interesting show to say the least.

Yet later that day Morrison refused Abbott’s offer to be deputy Liberal leader on a joint ticket with Abbott against Turnbull and Bishop.

He was also effectively refusing to be Abbott’s new treasurer, since the deputy has their pick of portfolios.

True, Abbott was even then still foolishly reluctant to sack his existing Treasurer, the embattled Joe Hockey.

His offer really meant it was up to Morrison to sack Hockey and run against Bishop. But had Morrison said yes to Abbott’s offer, he and his five supporters would have helped to defeat Turnbull and would have encouraged other Liberal waverers to join them. A yes would also have meant that Morrison, a Pentecostal Christian conservative opposed to gay marriage, would have saved a fellow conservative from a Leftist and gay-marriage crusader

Yet Morrison chose not to fight for Abbott or for his beliefs. While privately telling Liberals and some journalists he remained an Abbott supporter, he gave no press conference to defend him and his coterie of MPs voted for Turnbull.

True, Morrison figured Abbott had poor judgment and was not a long-term bet. He also didn’t want to be in a contest with Bishop or in Abbott’s fight with Turnbull and will still get his reward — Hockey’s job as Treasurer. But where was the fighting for principle?

And then there was the sabotage.

Abbott, at his farewell press conference, denounced the “white-anting” by Liberal MPs, the “self-serving claims” peddled to journalists by his anonymous critics to do the work of “the assassin’s knife”.

It is too easily forgotten that Abbott by May had largely recovered in the polls, even drawing level with Labor in one. Journalists had started to question Shorten’s leadership instead. But Abbott’s recovery was then blown up. He was rocked by another burst of leaks, destabilisation and distractions by his own side that continued right up until Monday.

For instance, friendly journalists were told Bishop had warned Abbott to sack Hockey and that she’d told colleagues that Labor seemed to be running dead in next Saturday’s Canning by-election (allegedly to ensure the unpopular Abbott stayed prime minister until next year’s election). Abbott’s poll figures collapsed. They’d got him.

But, sure, no change of leaders is painless. And Turnbull’s plotters are right: they have given the Liberals a leader more popular than the man he replaced. By making the Liberals more electable, they may have done the party a big favour. And isn’t their higher loyalty to the party, not to Abbott, whose mistakes caused more damage than anything done by the plotters?

Yet many Liberal voters seem red-hot with anger. On Monday, more than 1000 sent me angry emails and messages, almost all abusing Turnbull and most saying they could never vote for the Liberals again if he led them. Callers to conservative talk shows are also spitting chips.

Conservatives were always going to be furious about having their party stolen by the Left. But many are now appalled by the treachery as well.

Alternative Conservative Party for disaffected Liberal Voters with the final say going to Stephanie Legendary Conservative 2GB caller

So this is now Turnbull’s great challenge. It will take all his charm and persuasiveness to heal a division that could wreck his campaign and even split his party.

He has already had one expensive reminder that many government MPs simply do not trust his word or his instincts. Take the Nationals, whose 15 House of Representatives MPs are needed by the Liberals to form government.

The Nationals on Tuesday arced up at Turnbull’s election as Liberal leader. They refused to back any government led by him until he’d signed a deal with them.

They know Turnbull is a warming alarmist and a bit carried away by his own brilliance. So they made Turnbull not only promise to spend $2 billion more on the Nationals’ pet schemes, but to guarantee he would not change Abbott’s policies on gay marriage and global warming.

Oh, and he had to give Nationals deputy leader Barnaby Joyce control over water policy.

That’s why Abbott took so long on Tuesday to formally resign. He had to wait for Turnbull to sign the Nationals’ deal. Until then, Turnbull couldn’t guarantee he had support in Parliament to form government.

That is just one sign of the tensions that threatens Turnbull most. So forget Shorten. He won’t much bother Turnbull.

No, Turnbull’s first big campaign must be not to destroy Labor but to heal the Liberals he now leads.

Bolt Report June 22 2014

Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison speaks with Ben Fordham about the allegations of torture by Insurgents and THEIR ABC by the Royal Australian Navy

Abbott says navy claims are baseless

Liam Fitzgerald
The Daily Telegraph
January 22,2014

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott says there is "absolutely no evidence" to back up claims Australian sailors mistreated asylum seekers during a boat tow-back operation.

Indonesian police are investigating after the ABC aired footage of asylum seekers receiving medical treatment for burns they allege were inflicted when they were forced to hold onto hot engine pipes during a boat tow-back operation to Rote Island.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison denied the allegations on Wednesday, saying people smugglers had reason to fabricate them to undermine Australia's border protection policies, and his comments were backed up by Mr Abbott in Switzerland.

"There's absolutely no evidence for them," said Mr Abbott, in Davos for the World Economic Forum.

"These are just claims without any apparent facts to back them up.

"I fully support the statement of the minister on this subject and I have complete confidence in the decency, the humanity and the professionalism of Australia's naval and customs personnel, who I commend for a magnificent job. A job which is increasingly effective and successful."

Asked if the aired footage constituted as evidence, Mr Abbott said: "Who do you believe?

"Do you believe Australian naval personnel or do you believe people who were attempting to break Australian law? I believe Australian naval personnel."

Okto George Riwu, a spokesman for Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara provincial police, said earlier officers were looking into the allegations but did not yet have evidence to back up the allegations.

Mr Abbott said the claims would not impact upon Australia's longstanding policy of turning back asylum-seeker boats "when it's safe to do so".

The prime minister's comments came after he moved to ease tensions with Indonesia on Tuesday by declaring it was Australia's "most important single relationship".

However, in the wake of the naval infringement controversy, Mr Abbott said Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono must understand border control was a matter of sovereignty for Australia.

Australian Customs and Defence have started a review into the entry of Australian vessels into Indonesian waters after the incursions reignited tensions between the nations.

Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison slams THEIR ABC and SMH allegations of insurgent abuse against the Royal Australian Navy

THEIR ABC Caught out AGAIN!!!! Slandering Australia's Finest, we know who is paying them and its now official who it is they are working for, and it is not Australia.

Insurgents and their Labor Green Loon Progressive supporters (sponsors) whine they were tricked by Royal Australian Navy and repelled to base camp in Indonesia.

Asylum seekers say they were tricked by navy

Michael Bachelard
SMH
January 17, 2014

Operation Sovereign Borders: Royal Australian Navy accused of entering Indonesian waters in fight against Insurgents

Australia has for the first time used one of its new lifeboats to send a group of 56 asylum seekers back to Indonesia in a move that is likely to plunge the bilateral relationship to a new low.

Fairfax Media has interviewed a large group of would-be refugees from Pakistan and Bangladesh who scuttled their wooden vessel six days ago in an attempt to avoid being pushed back to Indonesia.

Instead they were picked up by an Australian Navy vessel, HMAS Stuart, and kept overnight before being transferred to a Customs and Border Protection vessel.

The men said they were tricked into thinking they were going to be taken to Christmas Island. But they were put on a small, bright orange lifeboat-style vessel close to the Indonesian shore, with only enough fuel to return there.

The Indonesian man who captained their wooden asylum boat was put at the helm of the Australian lifeboat to complete the three-hour journey.

The news came as Fairfax Media confirmed that Australia escorted another boat back on December 26, bringing to five the total number of confirmed instances of turn-backs, despite Indonesia’s long-running objections to the practice.

Pakistani asylum seeker, Fazal Qadir, 28, said he had set sail from an island off Java on January 5 bound for Christmas Island with 56 people from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq and Palestine on board, along with an Indonesian captain and one crew member. There was one woman with a 20-month-old toddler.

After about three or four days at sea, he said the group was spotted by an Australian aeroplane flying overhead. The boat was already leaking.

"We were very happy [when we saw them] because we thought when the boat went into the water, then they must receive us,” Mr Qadir said.


A sheet from a document given to them by Australian Customs.
All of the people on board already knew of other vessels which had been returned to Indonesia, so were determined to be rescued rather than escorted back. One passenger took a piece of wood and prised open the hole that was already in the hull. Others rocked the boat.

When it foundered, two Australian speedboats reached them and the 12 navy personnel on board told the asylum seekers to cling to the side. The toddler was provided with a life jacket, Mr Qadir said.

About 20 minutes later, two Australian Navy vessels, numbered 153 (HMAS Stuart) and 88 (HMAS Maitland) came into view.

Mr Qadir said the group was loaded onto the Stuart and they steamed towards Christmas Island. The men were told, and believed, they would be taken there. But the ship did not dock at the island. "We were going around Christmas all the time. For two days we were in the navy ship," Mr Qadir said.

The group was photographed and interviewed by navy personnel. They gave their names and were provided with white, numbered wrist bands.

On the second day they were transferred to a Customs and Border Protection boat that they could not identify. "We could see Christmas [Island]," the men said.

For three days they remained on the Customs boat.

During this time the men were desperate to call their families to tell them they were all right.

"We wanted to call our home because our families were scared their children were dead, but the navy and Customs would not give us a phone. They said we could call when we reached Christmas Island but they lied to us."

Finally, the men say, they were tricked once more. Mr Qadir said a small orange boat with a weather canopy was tied to the back of the Customs ship. They were told to board it because it would ferry them to Christmas Island.

At the last minute, though, a Customs officer came on board, tossed the asylum seekers a four-page document in a range of languages, and returned to the large ship, which sailed away.

The document, dated December 2013, reads: "You only have enough fuel to reach land in Indonesia. You do not have enough fuel to continue your voyage to Australia.

"The master of your vessel is now responsible for your safety. You must co-operate with the master and not act in a manner that risks your safety. You are responsible for your own actions. Your vessel is not equipped for a voyage to Australia. It is not safe to continue your voyage to Australia.

"If you continue on your journey, the master and crew of your boat will face harsh penalties, which may include a jail term."

The master was the Indonesian captain who had brought them from Java. They showed the compasses, GPS system and satellite phone that were provided with the orange boat.

The men said they were dropped very close to Indonesia. It took only three hours to reach shore.

They and the captain abandoned the Australian boat and walked into the jungle. They said they walked for five hours, including crossing a flood-swollen river, to find help.

They returned to their former houses in the West Java town of Cisarua late on Wednesday night.

On Wednesday Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa described the lifeboat option as "a slippery slope".

"It's one thing to turn back the actual boats on which they have been travelling but another issue, when they are transferred onto another boat and facilitated and told to go in that direction,'' he said.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison declined to comment on the asylum seekers' treatment.

A statement from his office said: "For operational security reasons, the government does not confirm or otherwise comment on reports of on-water activities in relation to Operation Sovereign Borders or disclose details of any operations.''