The Brisbane lawyer who asked the Australian Federal Police to stop Bali Nine member Scott Rush travelling to Indonesia has dismissed a police explanation that the drug smugglers could not be intercepted by local authorities.

AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin said on Monday that the authority was not in a position to arrest any of the Bali Nine before their ill-fated trip in 2005.

"At the time we were working with a very incomplete picture. We didn't know everybody involved, we didn't know all the plans, or even what the illicit commodity was likely to be," he said.

However Bob Myers, who was asked by Scott Rush's father to prevent his son leaving the country, said there was evidence this was not true.