How events unfolded in the people smuggler cash furore:
June 1 Initial reports carried by Fairfax Media of a boat carrying 65 people bound for New Zealand being turned back by the Australian Navy and landing on Indonesia's Rote Island.
A wad of cash allegedly paid to people smugglers by the Australian government.
June 10 Fairfax Media reveals Indonesian claims that Australian officials paid tens of thousands of dollars to a people-smuggling crew so they would turn back. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton deny this.
June 11 Indonesian government says it will launch an investigation. Jakarta says that three Australian Federal Police officers are heading for Rote Island.
June 12 Prime Minister Tony Abbott refuses to deny that Australia made the payments, saying Australia had been "creative" in doing "whatever it takes" to stop the boats – "by hook or by crook".
June 13-14 Indonesia ups the pressure on the government as Mr Abbott continues his refusal to confirm or deny the allegations. Ministers now fall into line with this approach. Fairfax Media is shown photographs of the stacks of US $100 bills paid to the boat's crew.
June 15 Labor demands the Auditor-General investigate the claims. Ms Bishop attacks Indonesia, telling it to secure its own borders instead of blaming Australia for people-smuggling issues. Former immigration minister Philip Ruddock says paying people smugglers would save money compared with processing asylum seekers, while backbencher Andrew Laming dismisses it as a "zero issue". The UNHCR expresses alarm that Australia may have breached a cornerstone of the refugee convention.
June 16 Fairfax Media reports that payments were made to people smugglers for at least four years, including under the former Labor government. Labor remains tight-lipped on the new accusations, citing operational and security concerns, although opposition leader Bill Shorten says Labor "did not pay people smugglers to turn around boats".
June 17 Fairfax Media reports claims by the crew under Indonesian police questioning that the asylum seeker boat was intercepted by HMAS Wollongong and an Australian customs boat in international waters. However, the crew allege payments were made to them by an Australian official, known as Agus, on their boat, the Andika, near Greenhill Island in the Northern Territory. The six crew members swore under oath they received about $US5000 ($6460) from the Australian official to return to Indonesia. Their accounts were corroborated by asylum seekers interrogated separately.
June 24 Australian Senate launches inquiry into payments affair. Its results are expected before the end of this year.
October 29 An Amnesty International report says Australian officials may have committed a transnational crime and calls for a royal commission into the payment of people smugglers. The report also calls for an investigation into a second case of possible payments to a crew intercepted by the Australian Navy and Border Force on July 25.