Prime Minister Tony Abbott

Keeping it secret: Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Photo: Andrew Meares

Australia's turning back of at least one asylum-seeker boat to Indonesia has sparked political anger in Jakarta, with senior politicians warning it could further damage the already fraught relationship.

The anger came as video emerged of Royal Australian Navy personnel boarding an asylum-seeker boat whose passengers claim they were intercepted near Darwin and towed back to Indonesia over a period of six days.

And the Australian customs ship the Ocean Protector prepared to leave Singapore, understood to be carrying 10 large lifeboats that will be used to send asylum seekers back to Indonesia if their own boats are unseaworthy.

Mahfudz Siddiq, head of the Indonesian parliament's foreign affairs committee, demanded Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop sit down with her Indonesian counterpart Marty Natalegawa ''as soon as possible'' to explain.

''The situation is not helpful. It will get worse for our bilateral relations,'' he said. ''Unless the situation is handled soon, I fear it will deteriorate further after the spying affair and the end of our military co-operation. I worry if the issue of people-smuggling is not resolved … it will inflame [this].''

Susaningtyas Nefo Handayani Kertopati, a member of the Indonesian parliament's oversight commission on international affairs, urged Jakarta to make a stern response to Australia, which she accused of having an ''extreme attitude'' on people-smuggling. ''The government should not be ambivalent or hesitant in addressing Australia's extreme attitude. It must deal with it seriously,'' she said.

Seven News on Thursday night aired mobile phone footage purportedly filmed by asylum seekers of Royal Australian Navy personnel boarding their boat.

The asylum seekers claimed they were intercepted near Darwin on January 1 and towed for six days back to Indonesian waters. Some have said they were mistreated.

Chief of the Defence Force David Hurley rejected these claims, saying in a statement that Defence personnel operated in difficult and unpredictable condition yet ''consistently demonstrate great compassion and courage, often at great risk to their own safety''.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott continued to fend off accusations of excessive secrecy after days of media reports that at least one asylum-seeker boat had been turned back. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison is still refusing to say whether he will continue to front the media in regular briefings, as he did last year.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the government was ''treating the Australian people with a lack of respect''. But Mr Abbott said he would rather be criticised for being ''a bit of a closed book'' and stop the boats than release more information about the Coalition's policy.

Immigration and Defence personnel will be forced to front a Greens-initiated parliamentary inquiry on January 31.

It is understood the Abbott government's silence over the policy of turn-backs is smoothing the way for Jakarta to tolerate the practice. General Hurley was recently assured by his Indonesian counterpart General Moeldoko that the Indonesian military would accept boat turnarounds.

It is understood that shifting the sensitive issue to a military-to-military level is going some way to placating Jakarta, provided the Australian government says little about the practice.