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  1. #1
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    Australia : Navy breached Indonesian waters 6 times under Operation Sovereign Borders

    Navy breached Indonesian waters six times under Operation Sovereign Borders, review finds
    Latika Bourke
    Thu 20 Feb 2014

    An internal review shows the Australian Navy breached Indonesia's territorial waters six times because crew carrying out Operation Sovereign Borders failed to accurately calculate Indonesia's maritime borders.

    "Crews intended to remain outside Indonesian waters," the report said.

    "Each incursion was inadvertent and occurred as a result of miscalculation of Indonesian maritime boundaries by Australian crews."

    Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has backed the report's findings, saying they show the incursions, although "highly regrettable", were "accidental".

    Five recommendations of joint review:
    • Chief of Joint Operations and Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Border Enforcement) ACBPS consider the review and monitoring processes undertaken by Headquarters Joint Task Force 639 and the Australian Maritime Security Operations Centre for any individual lapses in professional conduct that contributed to incursions by Australian vessels into Indonesian waters.
    • Chief of Navy consider each incursion by RAN vessels into Indonesian waters during Operation Sovereign Borders, with regard to any individual lapses in professional conduct.
    • Force preparation training for Australian vessels designated to be assigned to Operation Sovereign Borders should be amended to ensure crews are prepared to conduct operations while remaining outside Indonesian waters.
    • Range of policies, procedures and operational documents be reviewed as a result of the incursions by Australian vessels into Indonesian waters.
    • Border Force Capability Division review operational training provided to ACBPS Commanding Officers and Enforcement Commanders to ensure a tactical appreciation of UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
    The report says the Navy is only supposed to carry out operations to deny asylum seekers passage to Australia outside 12 nautical miles of Indonesia's archipelagic baseline, and where it is safe to do so.

    The incursions were first detected on January 15 when it was realised operations reports did not correlate with where the vessels were supposed to be patrolling.

    The report made 10 findings and five recommendations urging the Chief of Navy and the head of Customs to review breaches "with regard to any individual lapses in professional conduct".

    It also encouraged a review of procedures and further training.

    Mr Morrison says the chief of the Navy, vice admiral Ray Griggs, briefed his Indonesian counterpart about the findings of the report.

    "Subsequent discussions have been had through our mission and formal notes have been provided also to the government of Indonesia through the diplomatic channels and there is the standing offer of further verbal briefings if requested," he said.

    Mr Morrison says the Government has already apologised to Indonesia.
    But a spokesperson from the Indonesian Navy told the ABC last week that the apology is not the Federal Government's official stance because it was done through a media release.

    Indonesia is also unlikely to accept Australia's claim that the breaches were an accident and not deliberate.

    "In this day and age, navigation equipments to determine [the] position of war vessels are very modern," Untung Suropati, a spokesman for the Indonesian Navy, told the ABC last week.

    "It was baseless for them to say that what happened was unintentional or a form of ignorance."

    Morrison confident Indonesian concerns allayed

    When asked if he thinks Indonesia's concerns have been allayed, Mr Morrison said: "I do have that confidence based on the exchanges that have been reported to me."

    "I'm satisfied that we've gone through a very good process with the government of Indonesia. We have been very forthright," he said.

    "The minute we knew about it, we advised them, we apologised, we initiated a review, we have advised them of the outcomes of that review in some detail."

    Mr Morrison says any decision on disciplinary action over the incursions is a matter for the Chief of the Navy.

    Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop says Australia has been open about the error, apologised and that should be the end of the matter.

    "Australia has been very candid and open about what was clearly an inadvertent understanding of the territorial boundaries," she said.

    "We respect Indonesia's sovereign boundaries, we respect their territorial boundaries and when there is a mistake, we acknowledge it, we apologise profusely and we move on."

    xxx.xxx.xx

  2. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by xxx.xxx.xx

    Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop says Australia has been open about the error, apologised and that should be the end of the matter.
    Crap , pure unadulturated crap .

    Get the Captains and Navigators up here , I'd like to talk to them

  3. #3
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    ^

    Others wanted to talk to them also ....................


    Senior Navy officer loses command over incursions into Indonesian waters during Operation Sovereign Borders
    Emma Griffiths

    A senior Navy officer has been stripped of his command, another will be sanctioned and others counselled over their involvement in incursions into Indonesian waters last summer while enforcing the Government's asylum seeker boats policy.

    A joint review into the incidents by Customs and Border Protection and the Defence Force, released in part in February, found Australian Navy and Customs ships had entered Indonesian waters six times last December and January.

    It found commanders had incorrectly calculated the location of the maritime border during Operation Sovereign Borders (OSB).

    The report also recommended that the Chief of Navy consider whether there had been any lapses in professional conduct.

    A statement from Defence says the Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Ray Griggs, has been considering the role of the seven Commanding Officers (COs) involved.

    "As a result the Chief of Navy will remove one Commanding Officer from his command and another will be administratively sanctioned. The remaining Commanding Officers will be formally or informally counselled," the statement says.

    An administrative sanction is a formal warning that can vary in severity and can affect prospects for promotion.

    The Defence statementsays the Navy Chief accepts that none of the COs involved "deliberately contravened orders".

    "These actions are not punitive in nature but are aimed solely at upholding the professional standards that the Royal Australian Navy is renowned for and that are necessary for it to undertake its mission," Vice Admiral Griggs said in the statement.

    The Defence statement explains that "in each instance of an incursion there was clear operational direction not to proceed within 12 nautical miles from the Indonesian archipelagic baseline".

    It says the Chief of Navy carefully considered the positioning of each ship involved and that each CO was able to put their "perspectives" directly to him.

    The action has prompted the federal Opposition to criticise the Government for not putting in place "proper oversight".

    Labor's acting spokesman for Defence David Feeney has cited reports that the Operation Sovereign Borders Joint Agency Taskforce had ordered ships "too close" to Indonesian territorial waters.

    "It is unfair in the extreme that Navy officers are being disciplined and counselled, while Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison refuse to take any responsibility for the Indonesian incursions," Senator Feeney said in a statement.

    But the Government has "strongly" rejected the accusation, with a spokesman for Defence Minister David Johnston saying Senator Feeney was yesterday personally briefed by the Navy Chief.

    "The Chief of Navy worked through this issue very deliberately and focussed the accountability solely on the issues that were under the control of each of the Commanding Officers," the spokesman said in a statement.

    In February, Defence Force Chief David Hurley said the Australian Navy's incursions into Indonesian waters, while enforcing Operation Sovereign Borders, had led to a "go slow" on the military relationship between the two countries.

    General Hurley said he could not disclose how far Australian ships went into Indonesian waters but said the personnel involved were not using the "appropriate information".

    xxx.xxx.xx

  4. #4
    Thailand Expat
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    Quote Originally Posted by xxx.xxx.xx

    General Hurley said he could not disclose how far Australian ships went into Indonesian waters but said the personnel involved were not using the "appropriate information".

    The red cross shows the co-ordinates of the Ocean Protector on 14 January, inside the red line that marks Indonesia’s baseline across Pelabuhan Ratu bay

    Australian ship went far deeper into Indonesian waters than disclosed | World news | theguardian.com

  5. #5
    I am in Jail
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    Fair punishment for the incursions. Indo would never do that, not even to protect their invading asylum seekers.

  6. #6
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    punshiment is not for the incursions .

    Rather is is for not knowing where the fuck you are and as such is justly deserved .

  7. #7
    Thailand Expat VocalNeal's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mid View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by xxx.xxx.xx

    General Hurley said he could not disclose how far Australian ships went into Indonesian waters but said the personnel involved were not using the "appropriate information".

    The red cross shows the co-ordinates of the Ocean Protector on 14 January, inside the red line that marks Indonesia’s baseline across Pelabuhan Ratu bay

    Australian ship went far deeper into Indonesian waters than disclosed | World news | theguardian.com
    I'd say it's a fair cop because the 12 mile limit also extends out from the promontories. Then again if the bay is more than 25 miles across and one is in the centre?

    12 Nautical miles is 13.8 land miles so maybe? Also Aus. uses kms maybe some twat thought it was 13.8 kms?
    Better to think inside the pub, than outside the box?
    I apologize if any offence was caused. unless it was intended.
    You people, you think I know feck nothing; I tell you: I know feck all
    Those who cannot change their mind, cannot change anything.

  8. #8
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    ^^ And that's a fact.

  9. #9
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    They'll just have to start using torpedos.

  10. #10
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    Labor and Greens demand full report into breaches of Indonesian waters
    Monday 7 April 2014

    Report into six breaches of Indonesian waters by navy and customs vessels released after FOI request, but key sections are blacked-out


    HMAS Albany, an Armidale class patrol boat used in the interception of asylum seeker vessels, at Ashmore Reef in 2009.

    Photograph: Department of Defence/AAP

    The opposition and Greens are demanding a full government account of the circumstances surrounding Australian border protection vessels' six breaches of Indonesian territory, following the release of a heavily redacted report.

    Customs and the defence force conducted a joint internal review into the breaches – which took place between December 2013 and January 2014 under the government's new asylum seeker policy – but only the executive summary with five recommendations was publicly released in February.

    A copy of the 55-page report was released under Freedom of Information laws but Customs cited damage to international relations among the reasons for 18 blacked-out pages and other redacted sections.

    Both Labor and the Greens have been vocal in their calls for the report's full release.

    The opposition's immigration spokesman, Richard Marles, said the Abbott government's culture of secrecy, surrounding the military-led asylum seeker boat crackdown, was deeply concerning.

    "The Australian public has a right to know the exact circumstances into how and why our navy illegally entered Indonesian waters," he said.

    Marles said he was concerned about safety at sea as well as the impact on Australian and Indonesian relations from the breaches.

    The document does not disclose whether Australian border protection vessels were turning asylum seeker boats back at the time of the breaches.

    Sections identifying which border protection vessels were involved and the circumstances are also blanked out.

    The document shows the joint review actually made seven recommendations but two have not been made public.

    Discussion about the Abbott government's policy parameters on boat turn backs – only when safe and outside 12 nautical miles (22km) from Indonesia's “archipelagic baseline” – was also heavily redacted.

    Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the redacted report is just another example of the Abbott government's obsession with secrecy.

    So far, explanations about the breaches had been "woefully inadequate", Senator Hanson-Young said.

    "It is time for Tony Abbott to ... provide the Australian people with a full and frank explanation as to how Australian vessels came to breach another country's waters," she said.

    Last month, a Senate inquiry into the breaches found that the government's directions, to turn boats back when safe and outside of Indonesian territory, may be unachievable.

    "Our defence personnel are being forced to carry out dangerous operations on the high seas and are being held as the government's scapegoat," Senator Hanson-Young said.

    The review blamed the breaches on incorrect calculations of boundaries of Indonesian waters rather than deliberate actions or navigational error.

    The discovery of the "inadvertent" breaches prompted the Abbott government to issue a swift apology to Indonesia.

    Relations between the two countries were already under strain following revelations Australian spies tapped the mobile phones of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his wife in 2009.

    Customs and defence are still assessing whether lapses in judgment contributed to the breaches.

    Training regimes are under review and revised force preparation training will be introduced by next month.

    Officers will also be given special training on the United Nations convention of the law of the sea from the end of June.

    theguardian.com

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