(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)
During the first few days of the new parliament, Mr Morrison was subjected to a sustained attack on his refusal to answer any questions on asylum seeker policy.
He's facing an order from the Senate to release details about incidents involving asylum seekers at sea.
At his latest weekly briefing in Sydney, Mr Morrison sought to explain his approach.
Amanda Cavill reports.
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Scott Morrison has been criticised for refusing to answer journalists' questions at his Friday Operation Sovereign Border media briefings or provide information about incidents during the week.
Earlier in the week, Mr Morrison refused to budge on the issue despite intensive questioning in parliament.
Marles: "Can the Minister advise the House exactly how many boats have been turned back to Indonesia successfully since the election?"
Morrison: "Those opposite might not understand this because under their government they were not running such an operation. They were running a water-taxi service. They were happy to let people-smugglers know where there vessels were and how successful their operations were."
Plibersek: "He just needs to tell us a number. If the number is zero, then say it."
Mr Morrison says the government's approach is working and has led to a 75 per cent reduction in boat arrivals since the September election.
He says the Coalition's approach to stopping the boats and thwarting people-smugglers relies on a very tight command and information release structure.
"Perhaps the full implications of what a military-led border security operation means may have been lost on some. And what it does, the Joint Agency Task Force approach and Operation Sovereign Borders, is it draws together 15 different operational agencies to focus the whole of the government's resolve on addressing this problem through a single command structure reporting into the commander and then on to a single minister so we are able to harness the full resources of the government."
Head of Operation Sovereign Borders General Angus Campbell has also defended the strategy.
General Campbell says the decision to keep some information secret is deliberate and necessary.
"People-smugglers use information about vessels to market ventures to prospective passengers. They use official announcements about vessel interceptions to persuade people that the way to Australia remains open. In short these announcements arm people-smugglers with information to convince people to get on boats. Information about arrivals also leads to the release of final payments to people-smugglers. Information protocols that disrupt cashflow - even briefly - cause difficulty for people-smugglers."
Opposition Immigration spokesman Richard Marles says General Campbell's remarks don't make any sense.
"I mean they do not make any sense whatsoever. What's being said is that press releases whenever a boat arrived in Australia were bring used by people-smugglers as evidence of the the fact that boats were coming to this country. If that is really an issue, why would there be briefings at all? I mean, the briefings we are seeing every Friday are providing precisely that information."
Mr Morrison is also under pressure to table all communications about "on-water operations" between the election and November 14 in the Senate.
The Senate has passed a motion demanding email and correspondence between the minister, his office and the Department of Immigration and Customs be released to the Senate
Documents about the chronology of events, unauthorised boat arrivals, interceptions at sea, distress calls and response times by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, nationality of passengers, boat turn-backs, tow-backs, child asylum-seekers and water transfers must also be tabled.
The motion also requires Mr Morrison in the future to table documents about incidents within 24 hours of the event.
Mr Morrison says he's considering how best to respond.
"I note the resolution of the Senate and our response to that will be made in due course in accordance with the request that has been made and whatever response we provide, we'll do at that time. But I note this: During the previous government there were 75 orders for production of documents that they refused to comply with. 75."
Mr Morrison has until Monday to comply with the Senate order to release the information about asylum seeker operations at sea.
If he refuses, he then has 30 days to explain himself to the Parliament.
The Senate could then vote to refer Mr Morrison to the Privileges Committee for contempt of Parliament.
But, according to Senate rules, Mr Morrison could potentially defy the order by citing national security.
Feature by Amanda Cavill
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