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MH370: The weasel words within??

The following is a copy of the 22 July Tripartite meeting communiqué released on behalf of the Malaysian, Chinese & Australian governments:

MH370 Tripartite Meeting
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Joint Communiqué
22 July 2016

Senior Ministers from Australia, Malaysia and the People's Republic of China met today in Putrajaya, Malaysia to discuss arrangements in the event Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is not located.

Malaysian Minister of Transport, Dato' Sri Liow Tiong Lai, chaired the meeting with the Australian Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, the Hon. Darren Chester MP, and the Chinese Minister of Transport, the Hon. Mr. Yang Chuantang.

Ministers took the opportunity to reflect on the enormous sense of grief felt by so many people following the tragic disappearance of MH370 and again acknowledged and expressed their gratitude to the many nations of the world that had provided expertise and other assistance over the subsequent almost two and a half years.

Ministers were provided with an update on the status of the underwater search and the Annex 13 investigation.

Attention was particularly focused on delays to the search as a result of damaged equipment and recent poor weather, as well as discussion about the discovery of aircraft debris and what it meant in relation to search efforts and the investigation.

While acknowledging the significance of the debris, Ministers noted that to date, none of it had provided information that positively identified the precise location of the aircraft.

With less than 10,000 square kilometres of the high priority search area remaining to be searched, Ministers acknowledged that despite the best efforts of all involved, the likelihood of finding the aircraft is fading.

Ministers agreed that should the aircraft not be located in the current search area, and in the absence of credible new evidence leading to the identification of a specific location of the aircraft, the search would not end, but be suspended upon completion of the 120,000 square kilometre search area.

The suspension does not mean the termination of the search. Ministers reiterated that the aspiration to locate MH370 has not been abandoned. Should credible new information emerge which can be used to identify the specific location of the aircraft, consideration will be given in determining next steps

    
Note: Apparently it was Australia on their own initiative who drafted the above communiqué, which was excepted without too many changes from either Malaysia or China. 
Okay back tracking a little bit...
The following is written QON by Senator Sterle from the Additional Estimates, followed by the ATSB answer with the relevant part in bold:

Senator Sterle, Glenn asked:

1. How much has the Australian Government spent so far in the search from MH370? a. In 2014-5?

b. In 2015-6 so far?

　

2. What is the Commonwealth’s overall budgeted amount available for the search?

3. What have other nations contributed to the search?

4. What is the outlook for the search process?

Answer:

A comprehensive briefing on the search for Malaysia Airlines MH370 was provided to the Committee on 22 February 2016 by the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC), which was established to coordinate whole of Australian Government activities in regard to the search, and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), which is responsible for underwater search operations. This response has been provided by the JACC.

1. In the 2014-15 Federal Budget, the Government committed up to $89.9 million over two years from 2013-14 as part of Australia’s contribution to the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. This provided:

• $2 million for the Joint Agency Coordination Centre;

• $27.9 million to Department of Defence for costs in search for MH370; and

• $60 million to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau to undertake the underwater search.

　

a. In 2013-14 and 2014-15:

• Department of Defence expended $27.9 million;

• Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development expended $1.6 million to support the JACC; and

• ATSB expended $41.8 million of Australian Government funding on underwater search activities.

　

Other agencies absorbed their own costs.

b. As at 29 February 2016, an additional $18.2 million has been expended of Australian Government funding by the ATSB.

2. $89.9 million.

3. Twenty-five other countries have been involved in the search for MH370, generously contributing resources and expertise: Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, New Zealand, the People’s Republic of China, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. During 2014-15, Malaysia directly funded the provision of a vessel and search system as part of the search.

The contract for the provision of these services was directly with Malaysia and the value of this contribution is not available. In addition, Malaysia has committed a cash contribution of $100 million, of which $80 million has been paid as at 29 February 2016. During the early part of the search, China provided a vessel to undertake underwater mapping services. The value of this contribution is not available. In addition, China has committed to supply a search vessel and funding to cover search costs, to a total value of $20 million

4. It is anticipated that searching the 120,000 square kilometre search area will take until the middle of 2016 to complete. Upon completion of the entire area, it is expected all high probability search areas will have been covered. In the absence of credible new information that leads to the identification of a specific location of the aircraft, the Governments of Australia, Malaysia and China have agreed that there will be no further expansion of the search area.

Okay and then on 05 May 2016 at Beaker's last appearance at Senate Estimates and under questioning from Senator Xenophon Beaker said this:

Senator XENOPHON: Finally, in respect of MH370, I note that the budget said there would be no further funds; is that right?

Mr Dolan : That is the position. There are no further appropriations. To summarise: the estimated total cost of covering the entire search area was in the order of $180 million, of which $80 million was—

Mr Foley : $100 million from Malaysia.

Mr Dolan : Yes; sorry, I was going with from Australia first, Mr Foley—of which up to $100 million is contributed by Malaysia and the Chinese have given us $20 million in kind and in cash and the rest—$60 million—is from the Australian government.

Senator XENOPHON: Will anyone else be taking up the search or is there basically an acceptance that there will be no attempt to find MH370?

Mr Dolan : The position of the three governments was: if we completed the search of the defined 120,000 square kilometres without success then the search would then be concluded.

Or from about 02:30 here:

And if you refer to the weekly JACC operational updates you can see that message has been consistent all the way through (quoted from 20 July 2016 MH370 Operational update):

..Consistent with the undertaking given by the Governments of Australia, Malaysia and the People's Republic of China in April last year, 120,000 square kilometres will be thoroughly searched. In the absence of credible new information that leads to the identification of a specific location of the aircraft, Governments have agreed that there will be no further expansion of the search area.

  
That is until last weeks operational update, where the word suspension now creeps into repetitive text:

Ministerial Tripartite Meeting, 22 July 2016


Ministers from Malaysia, Australia and the People's Republic of China met in Malaysia last week to discuss a range of matters relating to the search.  The key decision from the meeting was that should the aircraft not be located in the current search area, and in the absence of credible new evidence leading to the identification of a specific location of the aircraft, the search would be suspended upon completion of the 120,000 square kilometre search area.

Ministers went to great lengths to explain that this does not mean the termination of the search; should credible new information emerge which can be used to identify the specific location of the aircraft, consideration will be given to determining next steps.

The full communique from the Ministerial Tripartite Meeting is available via the following link: http://jacc.gov.au/media/communiques/2016/com004.aspx.

In the event the aircraft is found and accessible, the existing agreement between Australia, Malaysia and the People's Republic of China for recovery activities, including securing all the evidence necessary for the accident investigation, remains in place.

 
So my first question is why change the message and add the word 'suspension' to the rhetoric after considerable time and effort has been made to disseminate the original rhetoric? Next question is what is the definition or threshold of 'credible new evidence' that would put significant weight on resuming search operations?
Are these more weasel words to placate the NOK & MH370 followers until such time as interest & concern wanes; or is this an indicator of something else to come? Time will tell I guess...
MTF...P2
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