Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says the issue of whether people-smugglers were given cash to go back to Indonesia was a matter of "intelligence, security and operations".
Ms Bishop was asked in parliament on Monday whether she would reaffirm her comment to reporters last week that no payments were made.
"The question requires me to go to matters of intelligence, security and operations," she said.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton was asked a similar question by Labor.
"We don't comment in relation to operational matters," he said before launching into a tirade against the opposition.
"We cleaned up Labor's mess and if Labor is re-elected at the next election, Bill Shorten will be the weakest PM when it comes to national security in this nation's history."
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