During a visit to the key Victorian seat of Corangamite today, Malcolm Turnbull was asked about his position on border protection, after opening his speech with remarks on a recent boat turn back.
Mr Turnbull has been accused of running a scare campaign on the issue of asylum seekers after referring again to the increase in boat arrivals under the watch of the previous Labor government.
He said people smugglers are more aggressive than ever.
"They have agents in Australia, they have access to technologies, Smartphones and social media that weren't available in John Howard's day.
"They are very adept marketers, let’s not kid ourselves."
Mr Turnbull also said smugglers are "among the most evil criminals in the world".
"They market and they will market the change, a Labor change to temporary protection visas as an enormous opportunity and there will be more boats and more people smuggling.
"There is no question about that."
