The opposition says asylum seekers who try to hurt themselves on the high seas should be stopped. Source: AAP
OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott insists he'll make a difference to the influx of asylum seeker boats from day one of a coalition government and end it completely in a single term.
Mr Abbott said former prime minister John Howard stopped the boats and so could he.
"We will make a difference from day one. I believe we can stop the boats in a term of government," he told ABC television's 7.30 program on Monday.
"The Howard government did it. What's been done before can be done again."
Central to the coalition plan is the promise to turn back asylum seeker boats, a move Indonesia says it won't accept.
Mr Abbott said Indonesia did not give explicit permission for Australia to return asylum seeker boats under John Howard but that didn't stop it happening.
"Neither did it stop the Howard government from maintaining a good relationship," he said.
"These are Indonesian crewed, Indonesian flagged, Indonesian home-ported vessels that have a right to access Indonesia."
Mr Abbott said he wasn't claiming this would be hazard-free.
"Obviously I will take responsibility for what happens on my watch. But the important thing is to stop the boats. That's what the Australian people expect," he said.
The opposition has also talked tough on asylum seekers who threaten self-harm to force merchant vessels to bring them to Australia.
Mr Abbott says a coalition government would ensure Australia was "not played for mugs by the people smugglers and their customers".
His comment follows an incident at the weekend when the master of a Maltese tanker aborted a plan to return 43 asylum seekers, picked up north of Christmas Island when their boat got into trouble, to Indonesia when they threatened to hurt themselves.
Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison has suggested a coalition government could go so far as to send in Australian soldiers to support merchant vessel crews.
He said it was akin to the 2001 Tampa affair, when then prime minister John Howard dispatched special forces troops to board the Norwegian freighter MV Tampa after it picked up more than 400 Afghan asylum seekers.
"John Howard took a strong stand," Mr Morrison told Sky News.
"And that's the message that was sent to the region and we all know the result of that."
"You've got to be prepared to do this sort of stuff."
Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare said it was up to people in uniform not politicians to make decisions about operational issues at sea.
"If there was a siege and there were hostages, it wouldn't be right for politicians to tell the police to go in all guns blazing," he told reporters in Canberra.
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