PM treads carefully over Joyce comments

Malcolm Turnbull will be hoping an emphatic denial staves off another diplomatic row with Indonesia over asylum seekers.

Jakarta has dismissed any suggestion of a link between a 2011 ban on live cattle exports to Indonesia and an increase in the flow of asylum-seeker boats to Australia.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce made the link when he addressed a regional forum on Wednesday night.

By Thursday he was crabwalking away from his comments insisting he was just stating "the bleeding obvious" - the ban had made it difficult to talk to Jakarta about the issue of asylum seekers.

"You don't fix one problem by creating another one," he said.

The prime minister, quizzed by reporters in Rockhampton where he was campaigning alongside Mr Joyce, said the government had been forced to recover the damage Labor inflicted on the Canberra-Jakarta relationship when it "precipitously and suddenly" stopped live cattle exports.

"That did enormous damage to the cattle industry across Australia, but it was an outrageous affront to Indonesia," he said.

"Let me be quite clear about this: there is no link between the Indonesian government and people smuggling."

Indonesia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs described Mr Joyce's remarks a "pity" while its former foreign minister dismissed them as patently false.

"It is shocking to suggest that the Indonesian government would put at risk the safety and lives of innocent asylum seekers in making the treacherous journey to Australia simply to make a point," Marty Natalegawa told AAP in a statement.

Labor and the man threatening to end Mr Joyce's parliamentary career questioned the MP's leadership credentials.

"He ... continues to be an embarrassment to Australia," Tony Windsor said labelling the remarks as reckless and offensive.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the comments were reminiscent of a clown brigade.

"When he starts weighing into foreign policy, he should best leave that to the grown-ups in the room."