The organisation has released a report in which it details evidence of Australian Navy and Border Force officials intercepting a people smuggling boat and paying the crew to turn around.
It recommends a royal commission into the alleged payments, as well as an investigation into a second incident where payments were also alleged to have been made.
Senior ministers have previously expressly denied the involvement of Border Force and Defence Force officials in any payments to people smugglers, but that denial has never been extended to intelligence officials.
A spokesman for Immigration Minister Peter Dutton described the Amnesty report as “a slur on the men and women of the Australian Border Force (ABF) and Australian Defence Force (ADF)”.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-29/paying-people-smugglers-to-turn-around-is-transnational-crime/6894610