Crock has seen firsthand how this knock-on effect plays out on the ground.
I've been in Indonesia, I've been in the homes of people smugglers there, I've been taken around and I know how they operate," she said.
"Everybody's on a mobile phone, everyone's got immediate communications, and the smugglers use the language that is coming out of the [Australian] politicians 100 per cent to sell their dangerous voyages."
Crock said she’s also spoken to asylum seekers who were issued with tickets that made it look as though they were boarding a proper ocean liner, only to be forced onto dinghies by the people smugglers and taken out to sea.
"[People smugglers] are not nice people," she said. "They're murderous, evil, horrible people, and they're absolutely using the politics. [Dutton] knows it so well and doesn't care."
………..This latest incident happened to coincide with a major event in Indonesia: namely, the world’s biggest one-day election.
"At a particular time when John Howard had his massive surge in boats, in 1999 through 2001, it coincided with East Timorese independence and relationships with Indonesia were never poorer," Crock said.
"I think this event probably relates to the disruption of the election in Indonesia."