UPDATE: THE PM is under fire after likening his mission to stopping the boats to a war, with the Greens labelling his remarks as &quot;desperately shameful&quot;.
News Limited NetworkJanuary 10, 20142:04pm
Tough stance ... Tony Abbott during the interview on Wake Up this morning.Source:Supplied
The Prime Minister this morning likened his mission to stopping the boats to a war, and said it should therefore be understandable that his government was a closed book on asylum operations so as to not give vital information to the "enemy".
What do you think of Tony Abbott&apos;s tough stance? Tell us in the comments field below
"In the end we are in a fierce contest with these people smugglers and if we were at war we wouldn&apos;t be giving out information that is of use to the enemy just because we might have an idle curiosity about it ourselves," Mr Abbott told Network Ten&apos;s Wake Up breakfast program.
"In these situations I am not going to release information which will be exploited by people smugglers to the peril of their customers and to the tremendous disadvantage to our country."
Confusion: Abbott won&apos;t confirm boat talks
Mr Abbott said he wasn&apos;t concerned about the appearance that his government was failing to be transparent over the issue.
"I&apos;ll be accountable to the Australian public at the next election - they expect us to stop the boats and that&apos;s what we are doing," he said.
"Let&apos;s remember that everyone in these centres is there because he or she has come illegally by boat. They have done something that they must have known was wrong," he said.
"We are confident that we are well and truly discharging our humanitarian obligations.
"But we want them to go back to the country from which they came, that&apos;s what we want. Every single one of the recent arrivals has come to Australia through a series of other countries where they could easily have claimed asylum."
Acting Greens Leader Richard Di Natale this morning launched a scathing attack on Mr Abbott for his comments.
"These people are not coming here just because they want a better quality of life, these are kids who are watching their parents getting shot," he said.
"For Tony Abbott to somehow try to relate migration to people fleeing persecution is a desperately shameful act by a dishonest, deceptive and manipulative Prime Minister.&apos;&apos;
Senator Di Natale said that just because Mr Abbott had won the election it did not give him a "free pass" to conduct asylum-seeker operations without any accountability to the public.
"It doesn&apos;t give you a free pass to go on and do things under the cloak of darkness without transparency to the Australian parliament," he said.
"That&apos;s not the way democracy works - democracy works by fronting up to the Australian people.
"We&apos;ve got two houses of parliament that will make sure your dishonest agenda will be exposed for what it is, Mr Abbott."
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the Prime Minister was disrespecting the Australian people.
"It&apos;s time the PM ended this cavalier attitude towards transparency - it shows a deep disrespect for the Australian people," he told News Corp Australia.
"Even in times of war transparency and accountability is needed, if not more so, to give the Australian people confidence in their government&apos;s actions."
He said it was for the Australian people to judge whether or not the Coalition was doing the right thing and that Mr Abbott should expect to just be taken at his word.
"There is nothing more serious than dealing with the evil trade of people smuggling, we&apos;re talking about lives being lost at sea," Mr Shorten said.
"But it is not for Tony Abbott to be satisfied that actions taken by his government are right and justified - that is for the Australian people to judge.
"Nothing justifies the Prime Minister&apos;s ongoing war on the truth."
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young also expressed her outrage over the comments on social networking site twitter.
Tony Abbott justifying his govt policy on refugees by likening it to being at war on breakfast TV his morning is more fear mongering.
— Sarah Hanson-Young (@sarahinthesen8) January 9, 2014
She later tweeted: "Tony Abbott seems to think he&apos;s playing battleships in his bathtub when in fact these are refugees who are actually fleeing real wars".
Former Labor MP Mike Kelly, who lost his seat to the Coalition at the September election, said Mr Abbott&apos;s words were "farcical".
Abbott&apos;s comparison of the asylum seeker issue with a "war" from a security perspective is farcical. Greatest con since the Iraq War.
— Mike Kelly (@MikeKellyofEM) January 9, 2014
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is due to front the media on the issue later today.
The Prime Minister&apos;s comments come as Indonesian officials are demanding urgent talks with their Australian counterparts over the escalating asylum-seeker issue.
It was reported today that up to five asylum boats have been towed or turned back to Indonesia in the past month.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison continues to avoid the media over the issue, issuing only statements through his spokeswoman.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Mr Morrison are yet to say if they will travel to Indonesia for discussions over the issue.
UPDATE: THE PM is under fire after likening his mission to stopping the boats to a war, with the Greens labelling his remarks as &quot;desperately shameful&quot;.
News Limited NetworkJanuary 10, 20142:04pm
Tough stance ... Tony Abbott during the interview on Wake Up this morning.Source:Supplied
The Prime Minister this morning likened his mission to stopping the boats to a war, and said it should therefore be understandable that his government was a closed book on asylum operations so as to not give vital information to the "enemy".
What do you think of Tony Abbott&apos;s tough stance? Tell us in the comments field below
"In the end we are in a fierce contest with these people smugglers and if we were at war we wouldn&apos;t be giving out information that is of use to the enemy just because we might have an idle curiosity about it ourselves," Mr Abbott told Network Ten&apos;s Wake Up breakfast program.
"In these situations I am not going to release information which will be exploited by people smugglers to the peril of their customers and to the tremendous disadvantage to our country."
Confusion: Abbott won&apos;t confirm boat talks
Mr Abbott said he wasn&apos;t concerned about the appearance that his government was failing to be transparent over the issue.
"I&apos;ll be accountable to the Australian public at the next election - they expect us to stop the boats and that&apos;s what we are doing," he said.
"Let&apos;s remember that everyone in these centres is there because he or she has come illegally by boat. They have done something that they must have known was wrong," he said.
"We are confident that we are well and truly discharging our humanitarian obligations.
"But we want them to go back to the country from which they came, that&apos;s what we want. Every single one of the recent arrivals has come to Australia through a series of other countries where they could easily have claimed asylum."
Acting Greens Leader Richard Di Natale this morning launched a scathing attack on Mr Abbott for his comments.
"These people are not coming here just because they want a better quality of life, these are kids who are watching their parents getting shot," he said.
"For Tony Abbott to somehow try to relate migration to people fleeing persecution is a desperately shameful act by a dishonest, deceptive and manipulative Prime Minister.&apos;&apos;
Senator Di Natale said that just because Mr Abbott had won the election it did not give him a "free pass" to conduct asylum-seeker operations without any accountability to the public.
"It doesn&apos;t give you a free pass to go on and do things under the cloak of darkness w
ithout transparency to the Australian parliament," he said.
"That&apos;s not the way democracy works - democracy works by fronting up to the Australian people.
"We&apos;ve got two houses of parliament that will make sure your dishonest agenda will be exposed for what it is, Mr Abbott."
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the Prime Minister was disrespecting the Australian people.
"It&apos;s time the PM ended this cavalier attitude towards transparency - it shows a deep disrespect for the Australian people," he told News Corp Australia.
"Even in times of war transparency and accountability is needed, if not more so, to give the Australian people confidence in their government&apos;s actions."
He said it was for the Australian people to judge whether or not the Coalition was doing the right thing and that Mr Abbott should expect to just be taken at his word.
"There is nothing more serious than dealing with the evil trade of people smuggling, we&apos;re talking about lives being lost at sea," Mr Shorten said.
"But it is not for Tony Abbott to be satisfied that actions taken by his government are right and justified - that is for the Australian people to judge.
"Nothing justifies the Prime Minister&apos;s ongoing war on the truth."
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young also expressed her outrage over the comments on social networking site twitter.
Tony Abbott justifying his govt policy on refugees by likening it to being at war on breakfast TV his morning is more fear mongering.
— Sarah Hanson-Young (@sarahinthesen8) January 9, 2014
She later tweeted: "Tony Abbott seems to think he&apos;s playing battleships in his bathtub when in fact these are refugees who are actually fleeing real wars".
Former Labor MP Mike Kelly, who lost his seat to the Coalition at the September election, said Mr Abbott&apos;s words were "farcical".
Abbott&apos;s comparison of the asylum seeker issue with a "war" from a security perspective is farcical. Greatest con since the Iraq War.
— Mike Kelly (@MikeKellyofEM) January 9, 2014
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is due to front the media on the issue later today.
The Prime Minister&apos;s comments come as Indonesian officials are demanding urgent talks with their Australian counterparts over the escalating asylum-seeker issue.
It was reported today that up to five asylum boats have been towed or turned back to Indonesia in the past month.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison continues to avoid the media over the issue, issuing only statements through his spokeswoman.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Mr Morrison are yet to say if they will travel to Indonesia for discussions over the issue.