Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and his immigration spokesman, Richard Marles, have left the door open to Labor adopting the Coalition's policy of turning back asylum seeker boats.
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A day after shadow minister Joel Fitzgibbon said he personally supported the retention of the Coalition's policy of turning back asylum seeker boats and predicted it would be Labor policy, Mr Shorten said he was determined "to make sure that never again do the seaways between Java and Christmas Island become the opportunity for people smugglers to put unsuspecting people into unsafe boats and drown at sea".
At the same time, former Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa warned that Australia and Indonesia were at a "key juncture" in relations after a series of difficult issues, such as boat turn backs and the execution of the Bali 9 duo had divided the two nations, and that there needed to be greater dialogue between the two countries on asylum seekers.
Mr Shorten twice avoided explicitly stating Labor would adopt the policy on Monday and criticised the secrecy attached to Operation Sovereign Borders, the government's name for its tow back strategy, but his comments have been widely interpreted within the Labor Party as preparing the ground for a policy shift.
"We want to see what the actual policies are and how they are actually working. Our first priority is the safety of refugees, genuine refugees but also discouraging the people smugglers, making sure that we can put them out of business," he said.
The Opposition Leader's comments stand in stark contrast to October 2014, when he slapped down a suggestion from Mr Marles that Labor "might" keep the policy.
However last month, Mr Shorten signalled a harder line on the policy - a move backed by the NSW Labor Right faction, but which has enraged Labor's Left faction.
Mr Marles went further than his leader, telling ABC radio that"we are not about to do anything which sees a re-opening of the journey between Java and Christmas Island; we are not about to do anything which puts people smugglers back in existence".
The immigration spokesman said the issue was a complex and difficult one for Labor and that "no doubt it will be discussed at conference".
"The most significant step that any government has taken in bringing an end to the flow of boats from Java and Christmas Island is the regional resettlement arrangement and offshore processing that Labor put in place with PNG and Nauru back in July of 2013," he said.
Labor's national conference will be held in late July in Melbourne and the Left faction is expected to attempt to pass a resolution that explicitly rules out boat turn-backs.
But a member of the Labor Right faction said it was "inevitable" the turn-backs policy, which has so angered Indonesia, would be adopted.
"It's all about the politics now. Compare Bill's reaction last year to now. He has opened the door to it," the MP said.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton questioned whether the Labor leader would be able to implement the policy in government, even if it is adopted.
Hepredicted Tanya Plibersek, Mr Shorten's deputy leader and a high profile member of the party's Left, was "on the march" and would fight the move at national conference.
"If Labor is elected there would be a split right down the middle between Mr Shorten as prime minister and Ms Plibersek as deputy prime minister, there would not be the resolve [to do it]," he told Sky News.
"Even if Bill Shorten announced it at the election I just don't think he'd be able to do it."
When last in government, Labor repeatedly criticised the Coalition's promise to stop the boats and questioned whether it would be able to effectively implement the policy.
