Obviously frustrated at the mealy-mouthed diplo-speak issuing from Tony Abbott as he attempted to soothe bruised Indonesian feelings over the spying allegations, Mark Textor, the Liberal Party's wunderkind pollster couldn't help himself. How else to explain a stream of infantile and racially dubious references likening Indonesia's foreign minister to a 1970s ''Pilipino [sic] porn star'', suggesting President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono uses a ''weird-ass calendar'' (''FFS SBY''), and publishing pictures of the Bali bombers? The fact that some of this material was tweeted and then deleted is probably instructive. In damage control mode, the pollster with a penchant for poison, argued after the fact on Thursday that he had not been referring to anyone in particular with his porn star reference. Seriously? Why did it refer to ''a bloke'' and why, for that matter, was it deleted? After Fairfax Media reported his tweets, some fellow travellers of the voluble Mr Textor defended his comments, which of course is their right, but they went further, slamming this company for publishing them.

This is a curious response given that Textor's observations were intended precisely to be published. That was the point. Entirely. And the views were volunteered as well. Mr Textor can have had no other intention than to publish his opinions for the consumption of all and sundry. The idea of others complaining about them being noticed surely misses the point. Or rather, it reveals another point. That the comments are in fact distinctly embarrassing – especially for the Coalition government with which he is so intimately connected.

The challenge now for Prime Minister Abbott is what to do about them. That an Abbott insider is being so blatantly offensive to the Indonesian leadership while Abbott himself is going out of his way to remain respectful and salve an inflamed situation is big news in Indonesia. The Fairfax story, or more accurately, the subject of it, was front page news on the leading Indonesian website, Kompas.com on Thursday and other Indonesian media have covered it also. Outrage in Indonesia appears to be growing, which could be a real problem for Abbott. A senior Liberal source said Textor had been ''sat on'' and told to shut up. Who knows? In the midst of the biggest crisis in the relationship since 1999, Abbott is being criticised from the left for not apologising directly to SBY for the personal insult of Australia having bugged his phone and that of his wife, among others.

The new PM has correctly resisted such calls, despite the short-term comfort this kind of acknowledgement and contrition might bring. Loading But it is of no help to Abbott whatsoever to have abusive public commentary from the extreme right – especially if it is seen to be coming from within the counsels of his own party.