A COALITION government will impose a blackout on asylum-seeker boat arrivals or turn-arounds unless defence chiefs give their approvals shadow immigration minister Scott Morrison said today.

Mr Morrison said today the information should not be "put in the hands of politicians" and would be released by the Coalition's proposed Operation Sovereign Border which would be headed by a three-star general.

He confirmed the clamp-down on arrivals details, which under the Labor government are released for every boat arrival, during a National Press Club debate with Immigration Minister Tony Burke.

Mr Morrison also indicated a measured implementation of the Coalition's asylum seeker policy, which has been second only to attacks on carbon pricing for prominence in the election campaign of Liberal leader Tony Abbott, because he didn't want to match Labor's "rush to failure".

But as soon as possible the overall management of the issue, including release of data on attempts to reach Australia and actual arrivals by boat people, will be controlled as "an operational decision'' by the Operation Sovereign Borders, the co-ordination of 12 agencies dealing with asylum seekers.

"I don't think those decisions should be put in the hands of politicians to use as this Government has on occasions," Mr Morrison told the NPC.

"I think those decisions should be made by implementation officers and I'm happy to trust one of the three-star military officers of our defence forces and I'm surprised Tony Burke's not."

Mr Burke said Australians might not know when the first boat arrived under a Coalition government.

"Because Scott's not guaranteeing to let the media know the way Labor has, (former Liberal Prime Minister) John Howard has. He's already taken that promise off the table,'' he said.

"It may well be Australians are no longer told because he refused to re-commit to the information and the disclosure even occurring.''

Scott Morrison said Operation Sovereign Borders would be put together with the advice of Defence chiefs and in the meantime arrivals would be sent to Nauru or PNG's Manus Island.

"One of the things I've noticed over the past few years observing four Immigration Ministers is they often rush to failure,'' said Mr Morrison.

"They often make big announcements which don't have the substance behind them to ensure their effective and ready implementation. I won't be making those mistakes. I've studied this government very carefully and I've seen quite clearly why they have failed on so many occasions and I don't intend to repeat their mistakes.''

Tony Burke had his own version of a Coalition government agenda on the issue.

"Tony Abbott would have to talk about a turn-back policy that Indonesia doesn't support, a (boat) buy-back policy that Indonesia doesn't support, putting additional Australian Federal Police on the ground in Indonesia which was announced without consultation with Indonesia,'' he said.

"What will happen if there is a change of government ... you'd get about a week of Scott Morrison claiming nothing has been organised, then a week of him claiming that he was fixing it all. By week three he would be back to implementing what I'm doing now, because it works.

"And he will ditch - he will have to ditch - the most ridiculous policies that he's talking to the Australian people about now.''

Meanwhile, Mr Burke ranked comments by the Liberal candidate for Lindsay, Fiona Scott, that asylum seekers were causing western Sydney traffic jams, as sillier than Mr Morrison's policy to spend $20 million buying Indonesian fishing boats.

Ms Scott had told ABC's Four Corners Monday night: "It's a hot topic here because our traffic is overcrowded.

"I mean how much fun is the M4 in peak hour? It's not fun at all. And you know, you imagine a mum, you know, it's a classic example, trying to be back for a six o'clock pick-up from daycare, and every minute you're late you're getting charged.

"Now you multiply that by a couple of kids, it means that when you think of overcrowding it becomes an issue for people, it really does.''

Mr Burke said: "The comments, I think, would rate as some of the silliest in the election campaign were it not for Scott's buy back. The competition has been fierce.''

Originally published as Coalition will impose blackout on boats