The Coalition has accused Labor of sending mixed messages over its commitment to bipartisanship in repairing the frayed Australia-Indonesia relationship.

The Labor leader, Bill Shorten, pledged a “team Australia” approach to restoring goodwill after revelations this week by Guardian Australia and the ABC that Australia attempted to listen in on the mobile phone of the Indonesian president, his wife and a group of influential Jakarta MPs.

But Labor’s deputy leader, Tanya Plibersek, on Thursday suggested the current imbroglio began with strains in the bilateral relationship that the Coalition had itself prompted by proposing various election policies that Indonesia publicly objected to.

“They came into government with a relationship that was already under stress,” Plibersek, the shadow foreign minister, said Thursday. “There were a few missteps from this government from day one,” she said.

Plibersek pointed to tensions between the Coalition and Jakarta over turning back asylum boats, and buying back boats from Indonesian fishermen in an effort to disrupt people-smuggling operations. “We need to take a few steps back and look at the lead-up to this most recent strain in the relationship,” she said, adding she was confident good relations could be restored.

Manager of government business Christopher Pyne professed some confusion about the different tone being adopted by Shorten and his deputy.

“I'm a bit confused about the opposition's position on this issue. On the one hand, they are saying that they support everything that the government does, to try and repair the relationship with Indonesia that's occurred because of these incidents in recent days, on the other hand they're still trying to play politics with foreign policy,” Pyne said.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/21/phone-tapping-row-coalition-accuses-labor-of-sending-mixed-messages