Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said a Coalition government would ramp up its spending on Australian Federal Police special operations personnel, who would operate in Indonesia, Malaysia and Sri Lanka and work with regional intelligence units to stop asylum seekers getting on boats for Australia.

Australian forces would also work with regional counterparts in villages in countries producing asylum seekers and transit countries, to stop people getting on boats.

''If we can stop people coming, and transiting through the region, we can stop them coming to Australia,'' Mr Morrison said.

The Coalition will release the cost of its policy on Friday, which is expected to be several hundred million dollars.

''The minute a boat leaves Indonesia or Sri Lanka, every option for Australia gets more expensive and dangerous for all involved,'' Mr Morrison said. ''This is about dealing with this challenge up the chain before it presents at sea.''

Most of Australia's covert disruption activities, disrupting the movements of asylum seekers, would be conducted on land, he said. ''Once someone gets in a boat it all gets harder,'' he said. ''It gets more dangerous and harder to stop.''

The Coalition would also appoint a special envoy to the region, who would work with regional governments to help stem the tide of asylum seekers to Australia.

But Mr Morrison acknowledged he had not had formal talks with his counterparts in Indonesia, Malaysia or Sri Lanka, and said finalising the types of agreements he wanted to establish in the region could only be done from government.

He told Fairfax Media if the Coalition won government, it would give financial assistance to its regional neighbours for aerial surveillance of the region's seas.

Crucially, he said, Australia would bolster Indonesia's search and rescue capacities, particularly to the south of Java.

''We want to work with our regional partners to strengthen their borders as much as our own.'' The announcement follows Mr Morrison's announcement last week a Coalition government would bolster its ''stop the boats'' policy with a punitive policy for those who have already made it to Australia, in a bid to deter others.

Last week he said almost 32,000 asylum seekers who have already arrived in Australia by boat would never get permanent settlement, making the Coalition's temporary protection visa scheme retrospective. He also said a Coalition government would strip them of the right to appeal to the courts, and those found to be refugees who could not find work would be forced to work for the dole.