Employment Minister Eric Abetz has been forced to defend the Abbott government against allegations it ‘disappears people’ during questioning over Australia’s forcible return of asylum seekers to Sri Lanka.

In an interview with ABC's Insiders program, host Fran Kelly put to Senator Abetz that the transfer of 200 Tamil asylum seekers into the custody of the Sri Lankan Navy was a matter of public interest, and that the government’s lack of transparency aroused concern. She then asked "since when does our government disappear people?"

Senator Eric Abetz has defended the government's approach to asylum seekers. Credit:Andrew Meares

“We don’t disappear people,” Mr Abetz replied. “What I think every Australian will know and understand is that our professional people in the Australian Navy, in the Australian Border Protection force, treat everybody with due care and respect and according to international obligations.”