Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has demanded Opposition Leader Bill Shorten clear up confusion over Labor's position on turning back asylum seeker boats.
Mr Dutton wants Mr Shorten to spell out his party's stance after Labor's Joel Fitzgibbon revealed he wanted it considered as an option to stop boats heading to Australia.
"Personally, I can't see there is an overwhelming argument that `turnbacks' isn't an important part of the tool kit," Mr Fitzgibbon told Sky News on Sunday.
Other Labor frontbenchers opposed the policy, Mr Dutton said, and Mr Shorten should explain why his shadow ministers were "all over the place" on boats.
"Mr Shorten needs to come out and explain what it is the Labor Party is going to take ... to the next election," Mr Dutton told reporters in Canberra.
But the immigration minister also believes Mr Shorten's promises will not be implemented if Labor is returned to government at the next election.
The government's policy is to turn people smuggling vessels around when it is safe to do so.
Greens Leader Richard Di Natale said Australia was shirking its global and regional responsibilities.
"This is a global problem, no country in the world is doing what we are doing," he told Sky News.
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