Julie Bishop tells Indonesia to take control of its borders as pressure mounts on Tony Abbott

IF you thought relations between Australia and Indonesia couldn’t get worse, you were wrong — just ask Julie Bishop.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has taken a swipe at Indonesia.

JULIE Bishop has attacked Indonesia over damaging allegations that Australian officials paid people-smugglers to turn a boatload of asylum seekers around.

As pressure mounts on Prime Minister Tony Abbott to address the “jaw-dropping” claims, the Foreign Minister has instead told The Australian that Indonesia is to blame for failing to secure its own borders.

Indonesia is demanding an explanation and has mounted its own investigation into claims that six people smugglers were paid $5000 each to take their human cargo back to where they came from.

“The best way for Indonesia to resolve any concerns it has about [Australia’s] Operation Sovereign Borders is for Indonesia to enforce sovereignty over its borders,” she told the newspaper.

“Operation Sovereign Borders is necessary because Indonesian boats with Indonesian crews are leaving Indonesia with the express intention of breaching our sovereignty, facilitated by illegal people-smuggling syndicates.”

Under repeated questioning over the weekend, Mr Abbott refused to deny the reports, instead saying authorities had been “incredibly creative” in coming up with ways to stop asylum seeker boats making it to Australia.

Opposition immigration spokesman Richard Marles believes that refusal leaves the door “wide open” to the idea the government is handing wads of taxpayers’ cash to smugglers.

“Really, it leaves one with the only possible assumption that that may well have been exactly what happened,” he told reporters in Melbourne on Saturday, demanding an “emphatic denial” from the prime minister.

Labor leader Bill Shorten echoed his colleague’s demands, telling the government to explain the “jaw-dropping” reports as a matter of urgency.

“The place for people smugglers is in prison, it’s not to be paid with Australian taxpayer money,” he told reporters in Melbourne.

“Logically the message that sends to people smugglers is the Australian government will pay you to carry out your crimes.”

The Abbott government is under increasing pressure following the a series of missteps, including claims it is out of touch with ordinary Australians on the issue of housing affordability and same-sex marriage.

It was revealed at the weekend that Treasurer Joe Hockey has claimed the equivalent of unemployment benefits from taxpayers while living in his wife’s Canberra home during Parliamentary sitting weeks, all while telling struggling first-home buyers to simply get a good job in order to buy a house.

A new poll reveals Mr Abbott is now trailing Mr Shorten as preferred PM.