The opposition says it still has "anxieties" over the controversial policy of turning back asylum seeker boats but says it "might" continue the practice in Government if Indonesia backed the idea.

Only one asylum seeker boat has successfully made to Australian waters in 2014, compared to 401 boat voyages made in 2013, which mostly occured under the former Labor government.

Anxieties about turnbacks: Labor's immigration spokesman Richard Marles. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The opposition's immigration spokesman Richard Marles conceded that the turnbacks policy Labor opposed in Government had "had an impact" in reducing the flow of boats from Indonesia to practically nil.

But Mr Marles insisted on Sunday that the Coalition's success in "stopping the boats" was partly due to Labor's eleventh-hour policy to prevent all asylum seekers ever being resettled in Australia, even if found to be refugees.