Mr Turnbull joined Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in stressing that the federal government did not believe there was any link between the two hot button issues. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce visited a sweet potato farm with in Rockhampton on Thursday. Credit:Andrew Meares "Let me be quite clear about this: there is no link between the Indonesian government and people smuggling," Mr Turnbull said. "I count the Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Jokowi, as a good friend and leader. He and his wife and Lucy and I spent a very, very productive time together in Jakarta last year and I believe our relations between Australia and Indonesia have never been better than they are today. "What we have had to do is recover a lot of damage that was done to our relations by the Labor government when they precipitously and suddenly stopped live cattle exports to Indonesia. That did enormous damage to the cattle industry across Australia, but it was an incredible affront to Indonesia."

Heaping praise on the Indonesian leader, Mr Turnbull said Australia was co-operating with Indonesia to stop people smuggling. "Many Australians, most Australians I think, were horrified by that live cattle ban, not least because of what it did to farmers in Australia and cattle producers and beef producers here in Australia but it was also an outrageous affront to Indonesia," he said. "And we should treat our neighbours... with respect and I do and we do." Earlier, Ms Bishop issued a swift repudiation of Mr Joyce's comments. She said Australia was working closely with Indonesian authorities, police, law enforcement and security agencies to combat people smuggling.

When debate host Chris Uhlmann questioned Mr Joyce's suggestion that Indonesia was responsible for the rise in arrivals, Mr Joyce said it was "absolutely the case we created extreme bad will" with the decision to halt live cattle exports. Mr Joyce's remarks quickly made news in Australia and Indonesia. Former Indonesian former minister Dr Marty Natalegawa responded strongly to Mr Joyce's "patently false" remarks, telling Fairfax Media they represent "at best" an over-analysis of the subject. "Worse still, it is shocking to suggest that the Indonesian government would risk the safety and lives of innocent asylum seekers in making the treacherous journey to Australia simply to make a point," he said. Mr Joyce sought to play down his comments on Thursday morning.

"What I was saying is there's a direct correlation between shutting down the live cattle trade and - before that, I must admit there was about 14,000 people coming to Australia - but 40,000 turned up after that and obviously it didn't help our capacity in how we negotiate with a country when we've just shut down one of their prime mechanisms of getting protein into their diet," the Nationals leader told Seven's Sunrise program. "I'm not saying that this caused the Indonesians to start sending people across. I never suggested that. "What I did suggest was it made it difficult...in how we negotiate with Indonesia and after that point we needed all the reasons in the world to negotiate with them because 40,000 people made their own arrangements and just arrived here by boat." Former prime minister Julia Gillard's decision to temporarily shut down the live cattle trade in 2011 after an animal abuse investigation by ABC TV was highly controversial. It affected industry in northern Australia and the Coalition has consistently said it undermined bilateral relations between Australia and Indonesia. Speaking on radio in Darwin, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten slammed Mr Joyce.