Asylum seekers and people smugglers are being warned by a new Border Force ad that policies on boat arrivals won't change regardless of who wins next month's election.
The new ad featuring Operation Sovereign Borders head Admiral Justin Jones says Australia is "resolute" and no one who arrives illegally by boat will settle in the country.
"Our border protection policies have not and will not change," Mr Jones says in the video ad released on Friday.
"No matter who you are or where you're from, our borders are closed to illegal migration."
It comes as the Morrison government looks to attack Labor on immigration, accusing it of wanting to soften existing policy on boat arrivals.
Labor says it has no plans to end boat turnbacks but is mulling scrapping temporary protection visas for boat arrivals, arguing they're redundant considering that boat arrivals won't be settled in Australia anyway.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton said the ad from Australian Border Force was "unusual" in election caretaker mode but the agency was likely acting on intelligence.
"I suspect in part it's because they're (people smugglers) hearing these mixed and divided messages," Mr Dutton told Nine's Today on Friday.
"The people smugglers market all this ... they'll be saying, 'look, there's going to be a change of government, there's going to be a change in the border protection policy'."
But Labor deputy leader Richard Marles said Border Force understood that his party's policies weren't different from the coalition as evidenced by the new ad.
"They understand that Labor's position is completely the same as the government," Mr Marles said.
"We've been saying it loud and clear ... policy will not change under Labor."
Instead Mr Marles said people smugglers would be using Mr Dutton's clips to "pretend" there is a division on policy.
Australian Associated Press
