CANBERRA - Australia's Labor government said on Tuesday it remained on guard against illegal immigration, dismissing fears of an influx following softer laws and a plan to shut down the navy over Christmas to cut costs.

The arrival in recent weeks of three boats from Indonesia, carrying 36 people, has prompted accusations from opposition politicians that the government has reopened a gate firmly shut to refugees over more than a decade of conservative rule.

"The Australian government maintains extensive patrolling of our borders. What has changed...is that we won't detain children and we won't leave people rotting in detention long-term," Immigration Minister Chris Evans told Reuters.

Australia's international reputation had been tarnished by sweeping confinement of people who often came from shattered or despotic countries in the Middle East and Asia, Evans said.

Former Prime Minister John Howard established the policy in late 2001, splitting the nation between critics and supporters, after a stand-off involving 439 mostly-Afghan refugees blocked from landing in Australia by special forces soldiers.

Howard's so-called "Pacific Solution", which included sending the navy to blockade Australia's northern coast and
processing asylum seekers in small Pacific island countries, was strongly criticised by the United Nations and rights
groups.

But opposition MP Sharman Stone said the reversal ordered by Evans now threatened a fresh boat influx, with people traffickers likely to take advantage of a long stand-down by navy ships and personnel not on patrol.

"Minister Evans...must try to convey that the Labor government has not gone soft," Stone said.

Fears of an influx were reinforced last week after navy chief said chiefs said ships not on operations would be ordered to port and sailors sent on leave between December and February as the fleet grappled with serious personnel shortages.

Evans' office said just three asylum boats had arrived this year, while five arrived in 2007 with 148 passengers. In
comparison, nearly 30,000 boat people arrived on Italian shores over that period, while 19,900 landed in 2007.

"Treating people inhumanely once you've detained them is not a proper policy response for a modern democracy likeAustralia's," Evans said.

James Jupp, an immigration expert at the Australian National University, said recent boats were unlikely to be the
vanguard of an influx organised by the $10 billion-a-year global trafficking industry.

Jupp said anger in Australia over illegal immigration had mostly subsided and there was no incentive to make it a public issue with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd riding high in opinion polls and Australians focused on current economic turmoil.

"There has always been a fear in Australia about uncontrolled numbers of Asians coming down, and they never do," Jupp said.

"A lot of time has passed by since Howard's actions in 2001, and the anger has died down."