This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

Immigration minister Scott Morrison has sought to downplay the effect of Indonesia’s halt on co-operations with Australia to combat people smuggling, instead emphasising the regional work being conducted in other countries as part of Operation Sovereign Borders.

Revelations this week that Australian spy agencies targeted the mobile phone calls of the Indonesian president, his wife and close advisers, escalated to a diplomatic stoush between the two nations, with Indonesia demanding an explanation, before ceasing all co-operation with Australia on stopping asylum seekers coming by sea.

“There is no diminution in my recognition of the important role that Indonesia has played in this area,” said Morrison at his weekly press briefing.

“This operation rests on no single partner, no single operation, no single measure … Our special envoy right now has been up in Malaysia pursuing the disruptive operational planning and activities.

“Now 60% of those who are coming through on their way to Australia go through Malaysia. And those operations focus on air, land and sea disruptions. The people-smuggling ambassador has been in the Middle East, dealing with issues at source. Nauru and Papua New Guinea continue to work closely with us on the offshore processing elements of the plan and the strategy. This is an end-to-end operation.”

The military commander of the Abbott government’s Operation Sovereign Borders policy, Lieutenant General Angus Campbell, declined to comment on the effect the diplomatic tension was having on his operation.

Campbell said he’d like to “leave the space open and clear for government-to-government engagement”.

Indonesia’s national police spokesman Brigadier-General Ronny Sompie said on Thursday that "all co-operation [between police] has been postponed, apart from those related to ongoing criminal investigations".

Morrison declined to answer which specific aspects of Indonesian operations had been postponed, telling Guardian Australia at the briefing that he would not “add commentary to a very sensitive environment that any commentary on will simply not assist”.

“I don’t think it will be helpful to our national interests, and I’m sure that you would want the government to pursue our national interest.”

Regarding recent allegations that two detainees on Manus Island raped a young male detainee, Morrison said he was confident of the ability of Papua New Guinea's police to investigate.

“Any matter involving sexual assault is extremely serious … Where allegations of that nature are presented, then they’re referred to the relevant law enforcement authorities,” he said.

He refused to answer whether the alleged attackers and victim had been separated inside the centre.

“The appropriate actions which have been informed by previous events, I’m sure and trust are in place,” Morrison said.

When asked by Guardian Australia if a Thai-flagged tugboat, currently at Christmas Island near customs vessel Ocean Protector, was involved in activity relating to asylum seeker vessels, Campbell refused to give details on the grounds that they were on-water operational matters.

“On-water activities is an area where I balance the needs of caring for my people and of the potential for bilateral or multilateral relationship issues to develop, or for the messaging it might give to people smugglers; it’s just not appropriate to comment on those issues,” he said.

The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, was scathing of the press conferences, calling them a “weekly embarrassment” for Morrison.

“Scott Morrison won’t answer questions in parliament, he won’t answer questions at press conferences. Why does Scott Morrison even bother turning up?” said Shorten in a statement.

“They’re not just hiding the boats, Scott Morrison is hiding the truth.”

The Greens will move for the Senate to recall Morrison and Campbell before the legal and constitutional affairs committee.

“Withholding information from Senate estimates that will be given at a press conference later in the week is absurd,” said Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

“Among questions that went unanswered this week were queries about the importance and scope of co-operation with Indonesia. The diplomatic meltdown between our two countries will have real-world consequences for those who are seeking protection and the Australian public.

“Those questions need to be answered,” she said.

As part of the weekly update, Campbell revealed that 35 asylum seekers and four crew members from one vessel were transferred to Christmas Island on Sunday. In the month of November there has been four suspected irregular entry vessels, carrying 198 people.

Campbell said that 50 people have been transferred to offshore processing centres or to Nauru and 21 have been transferred to their country of origin after electing to return home.

As of 9am Friday there were 1,134 people being held on Manus Island, 659 on Nauru and 2,197 on Christmas Island.