We may have declared war on Indonesia. Accidentally, of course.

It’s hard to know the more laughable revelation from Immigration Minister Scott Morrison’s humiliating press conference this morning: that in chasing asylum seeker boats away as part of “Operational Sovereign Borders” we breached the sovereignty of Indonesia, or that our naval navigation systems are so poor commanders couldn’t have avoided it.

Morrison and the poor sap he plucked from the army to run this ramshackle operation, Lieutenant General Angus Campbell, got down on their knees and issued a grovelling apology to our neighbour and ally. A review will be launched! It will never happen again! Foreign Minister Julie Bishop got on the blower to her Indonesian counterpart Marty Natalegawa to offer an explanation, but it seems he’s no longer taking her calls.

And who could blame him.

This government has vowed to stop at nothing to stop the boats. On that, at least, it is keeping its promise. But we couldn’t have imagined just how far it would go — and how much damage to foreign relations they’d do in the process.