The commander of Operation Sovereign Borders is not ready to label the four-month campaign a success, despite the federal government boasting an 80 per cent reduction in the number of asylum seekers arriving by boat.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday said boat arrivals had fallen by more than 80 per cent since operations started.
He added that there had been no arrivals transferred to immigration authorities for more than three weeks, and the United Nations refugee agency in Jakarta reported registrations had dropped from 1608 in September to 296 in December.
However, operation commander Lieutenant General Angus Campbell wouldn't weigh in on whether Operation Sovereign Borders could already be labelled a success.
"While I'm encouraged ... I am not complacent," he told a press conference.
"It will only be after the monsoon season ends, around late March, that I will be able to be in a position to confidently offer an assessment of how the operation is going."
The monsoon season, from November to March, acts as a deterrent to people travelling to Australia by boat.
Mr Morrison also flagged the closure of more onshore detention centres and the use of "different" methods of preventing boat arrivals, as the first phase of Operation Sovereign Borders ends.
The minister said that having announced the closure of four onshore detention centres - saving the federal budget almost $90 million a year - the government would consider more closures this year.
Mr Morrison repeatedly refused to comment on whether Operation Sovereign Borders had involved towing back or turning back boats into Indonesian waters, but said the government respected Indonesia's sovereignty.
Lieutenant General Campbell confirmed that Customs had bought a number of lifeboats for its operations, but would not say how they would be used.
Meanwhile, in a move heavily criticised by Labor and the Greens, Mr Morrison said he would no longer provide weekly media briefings on the government's efforts against people smuggling because the "establishment phase" of the operation was over.
He will issue a weekly statement and hold press conferences on an "as-needs basis".
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the move was another broken promise, after the federal government had assured Australians they would be kept well informed.
"In opposition, you couldn't open a newspaper or turn on a TV channel without seeing Scott Morrison talking about boats," he said.
"Now he's developed an addiction to secrecy."
Mr Shorten also disputed the coalition taking credit for the 80 per cent reduction in asylum seekers arriving by boat.
"The fact that fewer boats are arriving is credit to the PNG regional solution set up by Labor," he said.
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said Mr Morrison was changing the rules as he went along.
"This is Minister Morrison's media blackout, designed to keep people in the dark," she said.
Share
