IT was perhaps the perfect political time bomb awaiting the newly elected Abbott government.
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The furore with Indonesia over allegations of spying and phone tapping has certainly taken hold in some sectors of the Australian media, although it's quite reasonable to wonder if this isn't all a storm in a tea cup.
While Opposition Leader Bill Shorten attempts to force Mr Abbott into an embarrassing and entirely unnecessary apology to the Indonesian government, he fails to recognise the fact that the former government - of which he was a part - was the one primarily engaged in this behaviour which has now, some say, become a crisis between the two nations. Mr Shorten is also rather sheepish about the role of former prime minister and foreign minister Kevin Rudd who, coincidentally, left the country as this news broke.
He also fails to acknowledge the fact that Indonesia was engaged in tapping the phones of Australian politicians and security agencies during the East Timor intervention.
Australia and Indonesia are geographical neighbours and both benefit a great deal from various arrangements whether trade of aid related. It really is a relationship of convenience and despite the heated rhetoric, both would be anxious that the amiable relations continue.
The revelations about the phone tapping and other security gathering measures is little more than the cut and thrust of regional politics.
Few countries in the world would not be engaged in such activities, particularly monitoring those closest to them in a geographical sense. Failure to do this would be acting against the national interest.
There seems to be much more of a domestic political undertone to this issue than any international incident.
The federal Opposition and some sectors of the media seem overly anxious to beat the drum of a "crisis" to damage the Abbott government, and so far the Prime Minister has refused to flinch. Australia and Indonesia both know most countries around the world are engaged in intelligence gathering.
The important relationship between our two nations will not be broken over these revelations and the ALP and some sectors of the media would do well to recognise that.