"The Australian government has zero tolerance for people smuggling and illegal boat travel to Australia. No one who attempts an illegal boat journey to Australia will ever be allowed to settle here."
That message from Prime Minister Scott Morrison is part of a warning video directed at those involved in people smuggling operations.
The two-minute video will be translated into at least 15 languages, and aired in ten countries from which the government believes people may be considering illegally travelling to Australia.
It comes in the wake of the so-called Medivac law passing both houses of parliament last week, despite opposition from the Coalition.
The law allows for asylums seekers in offshore detention to be transferred to Australia for medical treatment on the advice of two doctors unless vetoed by the Home Affairs minister on security grounds.
As the Coalition braces for an expected flood of medical transfers, it has announced the reopening of an asylum seeker processing centre on Christmas Island at a cost of $1.4 billion.
Attorney-General Christian Porter has also announced potential transferees will face new character and security checks. He’s told the ABC it’s vital the government has all relevant security information.
"The assessment that would be required to see their suitability on security and criminal grounds wasn't conducted and is being conducted now. It wasn't conducted previously because it was never intended that any of those people would enter Australia."
Labor says the government should’ve already done these security checks, considering many in offshore detention have been under Australia's care for years.
Labor's Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong has also criticised Mr Morrison’s warning video. She says it is another attempt at fear-mongering.
"Scott Morrison's problem is that it's become very clear in these last weeks to Australian's that this bloke wants a campaign on fear, that's what he wants his election campaign to be about. He can't run on his record, because his record is cuts and chaos, he can't run on stability, because his record is disunity. So what does he want to do? He wants to run on fear and his problem with this video is that it's not what he was saying last week."
This week is the last sitting week of federal parliament before the Budget in April.
Asylum seeker policy is again expected to be a major talking point, with Paladin, the company awarded the Manus Island detention centre’s security contracts, under heavy scrutiny.
