PM: It’s been 100 days without a boat

The PM has declared the way for people smugglers is closed after 100 days without a single boat arrival.

Stopping the boats ... an Abbott Government lifeboat used to return asylum seekers to Indonesia stranded at Karang Jambe beach, Kebumen, Central Java last month. Source: Supplied

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has touted the success of his people smuggling operation but stopped short of labelling it mission accomplished with the end of the monsoon season looming.

Mr Abbott today said it had been 100 days since an asylum seeker boat had reached Australian shores.

He said that during the same period under the former Labor government there were 66 boat arrivals.

Mr Abbott warned, however, that the end of the monsoon season may prompt asylum seekers to attempt to reach Australia by boat.

"The monsoon is coming to an end and traditionally people smuggling operations have picked up at the end of the monsoon," he told reporters in Sydney.

"It's too early to declare the job has been done but nevertheless we can safely say that the way is closed."

The PM also conceded the absence of boat arrivals did not mean there hadn't been attempts to make the journey, but he would not reveal how many vessels had been turned back by Operation Sovereign Borders.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said asylum seekers seeking to come to Australia by boat would be confronted with the same policies "that stopped all those coming over the last 100 days".

Mr Morrison will travel to Papua New Guinea in the next week for an update on the investigation into a fatal riot at the Manus Island asylum seeker detention centre.

Opposition immigration spokesman Richard Marles said saving lives at seas was "unequivocally good''. But it was too early to proclaim victory.

"It's fine for the Prime Minister and (Immigration Minister Scott Morrison) to stand in front of big banners on this issue, but ... the critical piece of policy which changed the game here was the arrangement which Labor put in place,'' Mr Marles said.

The most important step Australia had taken in reducing the loss of life at sea was the regional resettlement arrangement with Papua New Guinea that Labor put in place last year, he said.

Ninety per cent of the flow of boats had stopped before the election occurred, Mr Marles said.

If the Coalition had supported Labor's proposed Malaysia arrangement in 2011, the 100-day milestone would have been reached years earlier, he added.

While it might be too early for "chest-beating'', Labor would support any scheme that was saving lives at sea, Mr Marles said.

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