"10 boat arrivals since the federal election"

And none have been turned back!

Indonesia allows these people in and benefits by their stay in that they spend large amounts of money. Whether it be bribes, tickets on boats, accommodation, food or whatever till they can get a place on a boat.
Indonesia also gets a big handout from Australia.
Too much emphasis is placed on the Labor and Coalition's role and too little is placed on Indonesia's.
I see Indonesia's role akin to slave trading.

Well of course Turner... a nation of 246 million... with a GDP per captia about 5% of ours should be doing a whole lot more to make sure that Australians are comfortable

Just reading of another boat down, maybe fifteen drowned off Indonesia.
Turner you may be right on the factoid given the right context, but I'd go along with mars 08 in hinting at that the brutal complexity of asylum seeking, which is itself a subset of global human impoverisation and causal international relations driven from the TNC's and their political lackeys.
Whether you support increased refugee numbers here or not, the circumstances behind the mess ought NOT to bring anything but shame to Western nations and people, considering how we would feel if caught in the same shit as these people are in.

the conservative base is under the distinct impression that Operation Sovereign Borders and a few quick forays north by the navy will “stop the boats” almost straight away.

Indonesia has to pull its head in.

The Coalition's "turn the boats back" probably means to tow boats back towards the maritime border between the two nations and leave them there with only enough fuel to make it back to Indonesia.

The navy will not transgress Indonesia’s territorial border.

The implications is that the asylum seekers are Indonesia's problem.

I bet Abbott's village watch policy gets dropped fast. We won't hear much about it from now on.

marso8,

So now we hear that the Indonesian army is trucking people to boats. No doubt they are telling them "Don't call us because we don't have the resources to save you when the boat starts sinking"
Call Australia.

Indonesia has made it clear that refugees are not a high priority for them. They have more pressing national problems and no new Indonesian president is likely to allow Australia to be seen to be dictating policy to Indonesia.

Indonesia can play the nationalist card just like Abbott.

The Coalition has spent three years using the stop the boats rhetoric of the arrival of boats of asylum seekers being were a national emergency, a threat to our sovereignty, and an unmitigated horror etc.

They cannot now get away saying don't worry about it, its not a big problem, or that Indonesia should be servile and just do what Australia wants

Will Abbott dump his "turning back the boats" policy in favour of greater regional co-operation?

When it comes to converting the three word slogan--turn back the boats--- into policy, actually turning boats back towards Indonesia involves some level of Indonesian participation and assent – and Indonesia does not seem keen on the idea.

To Indonesia, it is evidence that Australia is willing to shirk its responsibility towards refugees, leaving the bulk of the burden with our under-resourced northern neighbours.

The chest-beating Coalition, who have spend years beating up the asylum seeker problem for political gain, will now reap its own jingoistic harvest premised on an implicit distrust of Indonesia.

Indonesia is a transit point, Australian a destination. It is not as easy as shutting a door. Even if Abbott succeeded in building "fortress Australia", it would only result in Indonesian islands becoming a site for unwanted illegals, which then only aggravates Indonesia-Australia border security.