By Latika Bourke
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has launched a stinging rebuke of Amnesty International, rejecting the human rights organisation's investigation into boat turnbacks as an "ideological attack" but refusing to identify what he thinks is wrong with the report.
Amnesty International's report, By Hook or by Crook, claims Australian officials who paid people smugglers to return a boat of asylum seekers to Indonesia in May committed a transnational crime and put dozens of lives at risk.
In June Fairfax Media revealed an Indonesian police investigation found people smugglers had been paid more than $US30,000 by Australian officials to return a boat that was headed for New Zealand.
Amnesty International's report - released on Thursday - said the officials provided the crew with maps showing them how to get back to Indonesia. It also claimed there may have been a second round of cash payments made to crew of a boat intercepted in July.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
"I think the approach of some, including Amnesty in their report yesterday, goes beyond the pale," Mr Dutton told the ABC on Friday.
Asked to identify what was actually wrong with the report, Mr Dutton declined to answer and questioned why it had been compiled in the first place.
He then accused Amnesty of trying to undermine government policy.
"People are opposed to [boat turnbacks], including Amnesty, and I respect that but I think this has just been an opportunity to launch an ideological attack and I think that's why it needs to be addressed because the government is not going to be bullied into changing our position," he said.
"I think people who have compiled this report have put it together ultimately with the objective of trying to stop us from our success in Operation Sovereign Borders and I'm not going to be a party to that."
Asked directly whether Australian officials made the cash payments, Mr Dutton said: "I don't have any further comment to make in relation to that matter."
But he added: "The only point that I would make is that our staff operate within the law, within Australian law, we meet our international obligations in terms of treaties and other agreements that we operate under and the Australian Border Force staff are highly responsible."
Amnesty International spokeswoman Stephanie Cousins urged Mr Dutton to play the ball and not the man.
We have credible evidence that crimes have been committed, which warrant an independent investigation with full cooperation of the Australian government - not defensive bluster
"We have credible evidence that crimes have been committed, which warrant an independent investigation with full cooperation of the Australian government - not defensive bluster," Ms Cousins said.
"This report is about the Australian government's policy choices. By conducting Operation Sovereign Borders in secret, without the scrutiny of independent monitors or the public, the government is asking these officials to operate without checks and balances."
She said cash payments could actually undo the government's own policies
"If Australian officials are providing a financial incentive to people-smuggling operations, this would only encourage more of these incidents."
The report is based on interviews with 62 asylum seekers, Indonesian officials and six crew members. A Senate inquiry is examining the payment claims but Amnesty wants a royal commission into the issue.