Australian Leader Warns Opposition May Provoke Military Clash SYDNEY, Australia - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of Australia on Friday used his first press conference since regaining the country's top leadership position to warn that policies proposed by the leader of the opposition risked dragging Australia into a military conflict with neighboring Indonesia. Mr. Rudd, who forced out former Prime Minister Julia Gillard in a Labor Party vote earlier this week, said an opposition proposal to use Australian naval vessels to tow boats carrying asylum seekers back to Indonesia placed the two countries on a "policy collision." Tony Abbott, the leader of the opposition Liberal-National coalition, has had a significant lead in polls over Mr. Rudd's Labor Party leading up to the elections scheduled for Sept. He has promised a tougher line with Jakarta over the stream of rickety boats packed with asylum seekers that regularly attempt the dangerous crossing. Indonesia, however, has said it would not accept the towing back of vessels carrying asylum seekers to its shores. "I wonder if Tony Abbott is trying to risk some sort of conflict with Indonesia," Mr. Rudd said to reporters in Canberra. "What happens on day one when field marshal Tony puts out the order to the captain of the naval frigate X to turn back a bunch of boats?" he asked. And you have got a naval frigate from the Indonesian navy on the other side of the equation? Australia has tried for years to come up with a policy to deter would-be immigrants from trying to reach Christmas Island, a territory in the Indian Ocean that is Australia's closest point to Indonesia. Thousands of asylum seekers try to reach the island each year, leading to accidents at sea that have killed more than 600 people since late 2009. The Australian Parliament passed legislation last year to allow boat refugees to be deported to offshore detention centers in an effort to discourage asylum seekers from trying the voyage, but it remains unclear whether the policy has had any significant impact in reducing the number of refugees. Julie Bishop, the deputy opposition leader, hit back quickly in an interview with Sky News. "The prime minister of this country has falsely, maliciously, recklessly, irresponsibly said that the coalition would trigger conflict with Indonesia," she said. It is not our policy to breach Indonesian territorial sovereignty nor is it our policy to trigger a conflict with Indonesia. Mr. Rudd, who was derided during his first term in office for an autocratic leadership style until being forced out by Ms. Gillard in 2010, was returned to the premiership Wednesday by nervous colleagues eager to avoid what polls suggested could be certain defeat for the Labor Party in the September elections. In addition to discussing the issue of asylum seekers, which proved to be a major policy weakness for Ms. Gillard, Mr. Rudd went to great pains on Friday to reassure both the nation and his political cohort that he was a changed man. "If I have learned one thing from my previous period as prime minister, and I've learned quite a lot from my previous period as prime minister, one of the things I have learned is the absolute importance of proper orderly consultation with cabinet colleagues on any major decision of the government," he said. Although Mr. Rudd fastidiously avoided announcing any broad policy changes during the hourlong press conference, he did become the first sitting Australian prime minister to publicly endorse marriage equality and urged Mr. Abbott to allow his party members to vote their conscience on the issue. Mr. Abbott enforced strict party discipline in a vote to legalize same sex marriage that was defeated last year. "Wherever I go in Australia, young people think that our current arrangements are just wrong," Mr. Rudd said. "Whoever wins the next election, let's just have the civility to open this to a conscience vote for all," he added.