Operation Sovereign Borders: Asylum seekers still trying to reach Australia, says Lieutenant General Angus Campbell

The military chief of the Government's anti-people smuggling effort, Operation Sovereign Borders, says asylum seekers have continued to try to reach Australia, some within the last six weeks.

It is understood asylum seekers tried to reach Australia by boat over the summer, leaving from both Sri Lanka and Indonesia with up to 15 boat returns, some of which happened in the past six weeks.

However, Lieutenant General Angus Campbell said there had been no successful boat arrivals in Australia for six months.

"Today our Operation Sovereign Borders team can recognise another milestone, a significant milestone - six months without a successful people smuggling venture to Australia," he said.

"As each month passes without such a venture, people smugglers are becoming increasingly desperate and seeking to make the dangerous voyage to Australia to any vulnerable community that they can."

He said the Sovereign Borders campaign was still relevant because people smugglers were continuing to offer voyages to Australia to new groups of would-be passengers.

"People smugglers are seeking any market that they can find and they are pursuing any community that they think might be vulnerable to [what is] essentially a sales pitch," he said.

Lieutenant General Campbell said only one vessel had arrived in Australia in 2014 and all those aboard that vessel were transferred to Nauru.

"There's been a very substantial and sustained reduction in maritime ventures and potentially illegal immigrants attempting to reach Australia by sea," he said.

"There were no known deaths as a result of our Operation Sovereign Borders activities in 2014.

"We intend to continue to be vigilant and to conduct our operations on a daily basis, and ensure that people smugglers no longer have a business to sell."