Indonesia gives Coalition a reality check on boats TONY Abbott's move to have all future Australian prime ministers lock in Jakarta as their first overseas destination was a sound venture into the fraught world of foreign policy for a man with limited experience in the field. However if Abbott thought that his initiative would influence the Indonesian leadership to accept the Coalition's much trumpeted "we will stop the boats" policy by turning illegal refugee boats around, then he was sadly mistaken. Jakarta's man in Canberra Nadjib Riphat Kesoema put the policy to the sword last week when he said that he did not believe a Coalition Government would even try to turn boats back. "I don't think it will happen," Mr Riphat said. I think no such collaboration will happen between Indonesia and Australia and bring back the people to Indonesia. "It's not possible for the Coalition to say that it [boats] has to go ... back to Indonesia, because Indonesia is not the origin country of these people," he said. We don't know the situation ahead of us right now but ... no such collaboration will happen between Indonesia and Australia. In diplomatic speak that is about as emphatic as it gets. Following lengthy consultations between senior Coalition politicians, including Abbott and his foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop, and the Indonesian government in recent months it is unlikely that Mr Kesoema's words would have come as a huge shock to the government-in-waiting. Some coalition supporters have been softening up the public of late with weasel words designed to dampen expectations. The policy is now about stopping the boats "when we can" in the context of a flood of outflows and years of failure by the Labor Government. Unfortunately for Abbott and his vocal immigration spokesman Scott Morrison, expectation has become reality and the Australian people are unlikely to take too kindly to them backing away from their megaphone promise to "stop the boats" policy or being unable to stem the flow soon after they take power, should they win the election. The Indonesian ambassador articulated a common view when he said that he didn't think it would happen and the reason is quite simple. The Royal Australian Navy will not break the law of the sea or put its personnel or any distressed person on the high seas at risk by forcibly turning a vessel around or attempting to tow it back to Indonesia. Several defence personnel are still suffering serious psychological damage following the Siev 36 disaster in 2009 when five Afghans died after the rickety petrol-soaked boat they were travelling on was set alight and exploded when they thought they were about to be turned away from Australia. It was only the heroics of the defence personnel involved that prevented the death and injury toll from being much worse, but several of those involved are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). No navy chief would place his people at risk of physical or mental danger by ordering them to turn a boat around regardless of the government's intentions. It will be on the basis of when it is "safe to do so" and at the discretion of the commanding officer. The only solution to the boat people crisis is to attack the problem at its core in the country-of-origin, cripple the people smugglers, and negotiate with transition nations, including Indonesia, to pursue the smugglers and their corrupt local networks on their soil. Tony Abbott, Scott Morrison and Julie Bishop are well aware of that reality and as they plan their post-September 14 Jakarta trip they must know that the Australian people will hold them to account for their much repeated five-word mantra - "we will stop the boats."