Acting opposition leader Chris Bowen says the government is keeping information on asylum seeker boat turn-backs from the public because it's realised how hard such operations will be.
The Abbott government says it won't disclose whether boats have been turned back to Indonesia, a key plank of its border protection policy, and will give only weekly briefings on how many people are arriving by sea.
It has cited operational and tactical reasons for its stance.
Mr Bowen, who is a former Labor immigration minister, says there are no operational reasons for keeping the information secret.
The previous government had advice that deterrence measures should be done in a "high profile way" so would-be refugees in places like Sri Lanka and Iran would hear about it, he said.
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"There is absolutely no operational reason for the new minister of immigration not to be up front with the Australian people when a boat arrives and when a turn-back is attempted," he told reporters in Gosford, NSW, on Tuesday.
Mr Bowen accused the coalition of not being transparent with the Australian people.
"I think what's happening is the new government has worked out that turn-backs are going to be harder than they said they would be and they, therefore, won't be telling the Australian people when they're attempted," he said.
