A federal Labor frontbencher has accused three Abbott government ministers of lying over the highly controversial issue of whether Australia has paid people smugglers to turn their boats around.
Jason Clare, a former Labor home affairs minister, says the real issue is that three ministers - Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton and Attorney-General George Brandis - "lied".
"There is a big difference in saying 'no' and 'no comment', especially if the answer is 'yes' - ministers in press conferences saying 'this didn't happen' and then they come into parliament and say 'no comment'," Mr Clare told Sky News.
Labor is mounting pressure on the federal government to explain whether it paid off people smugglers to turn back boats.
Labor says the government must come clean on allegations Australian officials paid people smugglers $US30,000 if it is to restore fractured relations with Indonesia.
The scandal over the boat payments took another twist on Saturday, with revelations Indonesian police accepted bribes from the same people smugglers.
The Weekend Australian reported police were paid to allow the departure of a boat to New Zealand, whose crew was then paid off to return to Indonesia.
Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek said Prime Minister Tony Abbott owed a full explanation of Australia's involvement in the scandal.
"We have seen the foreign minister and the immigration minister flat out deny it and then the prime minister seems to indicate that this may have happened," she said in Sydney.
"It is absolutely vital that the prime minister does what he has to do to get this relationship back on track."
Share
