Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has indicated that a "bilateral" deal in which Vietnam is believed to have accepted the return of 50 asylum seekers intercepted by the Australian Navy last week includes the government not talking about the swap.
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Mr Dutton said he could not comment on reports that Australian Navy ship HMAS Choules last week travelled to a port city south of Ho Chi Minh City to hand over the group of Vietnamese.
Their boat is believed to have made it to somewhere north of Australia before being stopped.
When pressed, Mr Dutton raised the relationship with Vietnam for his inability to comment.
"I'm not in a position to comment in relation to water operational matters … we've been able to on a number of occasions, on a bilateral basis, deal with countries to get a good outcome [and] to make sure we meet our international obligations in screening people and we don't send people back to a country where we think they are going to be persecuted," he told Sky News on Tuesday.
"There are many aspects to this, including the bilateral relationship, which is very strong with Vietnam, very strong with other countries in the region and we respect those friendships and those relationships very much.
"These are tough decisions to take, but the last outcome I want is for the boats to restart."
Fairfax Media reported over the weekend that Australia's Vietnamese community had received reports that asylum seekers had been landed in Vung Tau, a coastal city in the south.
On Friday, Thang Ha, president of the Vietnamese Community in Australia, NSW Chapter, said the Abbott government should be aware it could be "throwing people back into hell" by returning them to Vietnam.
A report published last year by the leading international group Human Rights Watch found that "the human rights situation in Vietnam deteriorated significantly in 2013, worsening a trend evident for several years".
It said that the year was marked by "a severe and intensifying crackdown on critics, including long prison terms for many peaceful activists whose 'crime' was calling for political change".
Mr Dutton also insisted on Tuesday that a delayed flight carrying refugees from Nauru to Cambodia for resettlement would go ahead and asylum seeker advocates should not try to influence those on Nauru not to accept relocation because they will never make to it Australia.
