A Hawaladar is a trusted third party, often based in Afghanistan or Pakistan, who holds the money in trust for passengers on boats. The money is only released to the people smuggler when the boat arrives safely.

"This new policy can work only if the Abbott minister buys all the satellite phones in Indonesia (like they want to buy the scrap boats)," Amiri said.

"That's a stupid policy. The politicians are wasting their time."

Asylum seekers also immediately contact their families by phone when they arrive safely in Christmas Island, or they use the island's detention centre computers to tell their stories, often over Facebook.

Amiri, who is serving a six-year prison sentence for his role in people smuggling syndicates, said the information hitherto put out by the Australian government is "just for the rest of the world, not for the network".