The Australian Greens have accused Prime Minister Tony Abbott of risking the relationship with Indonesia to appease red-neck voters at home.
Mr Abbott has refused to meet Indonesian demands that he clarify reports Australia's electronic spy agency tapped the phones of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his wife and members of his inner circle.
The prime minister is also refusing to offer Jakarta an apology, a stance that has angered the Greens.
"Tony Abbott, worryingly, is risking the relationship with Indonesia for the red-neck vote at home," deputy leader Adam Bandt told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday.
The prime minister, who he described as an "aggressive hairy-chested politician", should offer President Yudhoyono an apology.
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"It's time to take a step back and stop the chest-beating."
Labor frontbencher Tony Burke was reluctant to back calls for an apology from Mr Abbott, even though his leader suggested that course of action in parliament on Tuesday.
"I'm not going to add to the words Bill Shorten put forward," he told reporters, adding it was in Australia's interest for the row to be resolved as quickly as possible.
The most important thing was that Mr Abbott not allow the issue to become "a running sore".
Government minister Jamie Briggs dismissed Mr Bandt's call for an apology as "irrelevant as the person who made them".
"The prime minister is walking deftly through it," he told Sky News of the diplomatic row, adding the issue was a "speed hump" in the Australian-Indonesian relationship.
"It will cause some friction obviously."
Labor frontbencher Richard Marles denied Mr Shorten was suggesting Mr Abbott take a conciliatory approach to Indonesia.
"We are going to support and back the government in doing what they need to do to repair this relationship."
Independent MP Bob Katter predicted Indonesians would interpret Mr Abbott's handling of the issue as provocative.
"(There was) naval intrusion into their territorial waters last week, we've burnt the boats of poor little beggars trying to catch some fish for their family, we've cut off their food (beef) supply, we've tapped the telephones of the Indonesian president's wife," he told ABC Television.
"And now we won't apologise."
Labor senator Doug Cameron said it appeared the government did not have any strategy to resolve the row.
"It seems to me again that this incompetence of the federal government is playing out loud and clear," he told reporters.
