You can't have it both ways cods

If Rudd and Gillard done nothing you would be jumping up and down.

They are doing something about it and you still jumping up and down.

So what would you like Rudd and Gillard to do? Try to get the boy back into Australia or for Rudd and Gillard sit on their ass and do nothing?

I’ve never seen a custody battle as pathetic and destructive as the one now being fought over a 14-year-old boy in Bali.

And, as with so many custody brawls, this ego wrestle between Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd risks hurting the very child they claim to care for.

What a farce it’s been since a Lake Macquarie schoolboy was pinched in Bali last week, allegedly for carrying $25 worth of marijuana.

We’ve had Rudd rushing our ambassador in Jakarta over to Bali to handle what’s usually the job of a mere consular official, and then holding a fanfare of a press conference to declare this was the “number one priority” for his staff there, adding: “I have kids.”

Then we got Gillard, unfortunately childless at this critical point, nevertheless trumping her smirking stalker by announcing she’d actually got the boy on the phone to let him know she’s on his side.

So there.

What next? Will Defence Minister Stephen Smith, another leadership hopeful, beat them both by sending in the SAS?

Meanwhile, every expert with half a brain and an ounce of concern for the boy rather than their own popularity is trying to tell both Rudd and Gillard to put a sock in it.

This isn’t the time for showboating. This is an issue that needs to be talked down, not amped up for the applause of the nation’s xenophobes, slavering to hear more about the savagery of foreigners to our north.

What a prostitution of our foreign affairs priorities and a pandering to prejudice.

Let’s recap. Last week the 14-year-old, on holidays in Bali with his family, was arrested by police as he came out of a massage shop.
bolt.daily telegraph.

I did think the Ambassador looked more than embarrassed arriving at the police station to be honest... we have a consulate in Bali..and now a personal call from the PM..

this could all very well go against this boy... he could become quite a celebrity when he returns.. every TV and radio station wanting an interview... its bizarre.. I think even the Indonesians can see this sticking out a mile..

JULIE BISHOP: Well if charges were laid then applications could be made for him to be released.

But my concern is that it took so long for Mr Hu to be even granted consular access, the absolute maximum time allowed under the consular agreement between Beijing and Canberra, but also that I understand it he's had no access to lawyers.

Has he been interrogated? In what fashion has he been interrogated? These are great concerns.

BARRIE CASSIDY: Sure yeah, they're all fair, they're all reasonable criticisms but Malcolm Turnbull got it wrong, didn't he, when he demanded that he should be released?

JULIE BISHOP: No, he didn't get it wrong at all. In fact if Mr Hu...

BARRIE CASSIDY: But on what basis? He doesn't know, you don't know and I don't know whether there's any guilt or innocence here.

JULIE BISHOP: If Mr Hu is not charged then he should be released.

BARRIE CASSIDY: But the, it's not unusual for somebody to be held for some days before charges are laid.

JULIE BISHOP: Well, he's already been held for seven days.

And the information that we've received from the Chinese website, because there's no minister-to-minister contact indicates that there has been an extensive inquiry and that they have evidence, conclusive evidence that he's guilty of stealing state secrets.

Now if the Chinese Government say they have conclusive evidence then he should be charged and released or released immediately.

BARRIE CASSIDY: Now you made contact with the Chinese embassy in Canberra?

JULIE BISHOP: Yes I did.

BARRIE CASSIDY: On what basis did you do that? What authority do you have to make that sort of representation?

JULIE BISHOP: I'm the shadow minister for foreign affairs and I'm deeply concerned about the health, wellbeing, safety and security of an Australian citizen in Beijing. And I telephoned the Australian embassy and I spoke to the acting ambassador.

What concerned me was that the Foreign Minister didn't call in the acting ambassador until Thursday, the day after I had made contact.

Now I would have thought that one of the first steps the Australian Government should have taken was to call in the acting Chinese ambassador and ask him for an update of what was going on.

BARRIE CASSIDY: Have you got any theories on why you think the Chinese have done this?

JULIE BISHOP: I don't think it's useful for me to speculate but there's certainly been public commentary that this is connected with the iron ore price negotiations.

There's also a lot of evidence to indicate that there is a major fracture in the relationship between Beijing and Canberra, based on the fact that there's been such a lack of information and lack of cooperation and almost to the point where Beijing is snubbing Canberra.

Now I don't think these events occur in isolation. I don't think this is just one event. I think this may well have been a build-up of concerns on the part of China about the way the Australian Government has been treating China.

We know they are deeply troubled by the Government's White Paper. We know that they were deeply insulted by Mr Rudd's raising of the human rights issues in Tibet.

It's interesting that he can raise the human rights of the Tibetans but not the human rights of an Australian citizen.

BARRIE CASSIDY: And just on that, an Australian parliamentary delegation - it was unofficial - they've just been to India, to a Tibetan enclave and they met the Dalai Lama. Could it be that that was a factor?

JULIE BISHOP: That may well be part of it. It would not be just one issue. I would imagine that there are a number of issues that are causing concern in Beijing. But it's deeply troubling that the Australian Government has not been able to make any meaningful contact at any level within the Chinese Government.

I know Simon Crean happened to be in Shanghai and in passing he met with some junior official in the provincial government but that's hardly meeting with the Chinese Government in Beijing.

BARRIE CASSIDY: In retrospect though, should this parliamentary delegation have gone to India at all?

JULIE BISHOP: Well it's been, Barrie. There's no point in speculating whether they should or should not have gone...

BARRIE CASSIDY: Okay...

JULIE BISHOP: But at the time of course I would have supported it.

BARRIE CASSIDY: You said that you didn't want to speculate on what the reasons might be but Barnaby Joyce certainly did and was quite emphatic about it. Was he wrong to do that?

JULIE BISHOP: I think Barnaby is making the point that if commercial negotiations are elevated to state secrets by virtue of the fact that Chinese companies are state owned enterprises then that brings negotiations in these iron ore price issues into a completely different perspective and it is troubling, deeply troubling.

BARRIE CASSIDY: Okay, I wanted to ask you about some domestic issues now. But just before I do, the Australian mine worker that was shot dead apparently by a sniper but we don't know that for sure, in Papua.

Is this something that the Government should be raising with the Indonesian authorities?

JULIE BISHOP: Well this is very concerning and obviously we feel for his wife and his young child. He has a young family as I understand.

There isn't enough information at present to indicate whether there was a motive, whether it was a personal issue, whether it was something broader or more sinister than that. But hopefully...

You can't have it both ways cods

If Rudd and Gillard done nothing you would be jumping up and down.

They are doing something about it and you still jumping up and down.

So what would you like Rudd and Gillard to do? Try to get the boy back into Australia or for Rudd and Gillard sit on their ass and do nothing?

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There is one thing both Rudd and Gillard seem to be forgetting/ignoring in their ill-advised game of one-upmanship over this boy and that is the fact that the Indonesians do not respond well to megaphone diplomacy. They are far more receptive when talked to directly, rather than through the media. Hopefully the Indonesians will ignore the childish antics of these two buffoons and treat the kid fairly regardless of what Rudd and Gillard say/do.