Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Sunday his government used intelligence material "for the benefit of our friends" and "to uphold our values" following fresh reports it spied on Indonesia.

Relations between the neighbors plunged to their lowest ebb in years in November after reports that Australia tried to tap the phones of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his wife and several top officials in 2009.

Australia plans to buy seven giant unmanned drones for Aus$3 billion (US$2.7 billion), potentially to help patrol its borders, a report said on Saturday.

The unmanned aircraft, with the wingspan of a 737 passenger jet, would primarily be used by the military for spotting enemy ships and planes in a conflict.

Sri Lanka's police arrested 75 would-be asylum seekers on Wednesday, including nine women and six children, who were trying to leave for New Zealand illegally by boat, police said.

The group was arrested in the southern coastal town of Moragolla, the first large-scale arrest of nationals in months after Australia, long a favorite destination for Sri Lanka's refugees, tightened its borders.

A Muslim cleric was Tuesday charged in Australia with conducting an illegal marriage between a 26-year-old man and a 12-year-old girl.

It follows the arrest of a Lebanese national -- the "husband" -- last week on child sex offences.

More than 30 homes have been razed in the worst fire conditions Australia has seen since a 2009 inferno killed 173 people, with flames threatening the country's second-largest city, officials said Monday.

Hot, dry winds and soaring temperatures fanned scores of major blazes across the southeast on Sunday, with Victoria state sweltering through its worst fire risk weather in five years.

Australian officials Sunday blamed a "fairly major breakdown" in border security for the reported escape of a convicted terrorist through Sydney Airport to join the conflict in Syria.

New South Wales Premier Barry O'Farrell expressed concern after media reports that Khaled Sharrouf, who served almost four years in prison after pleading guilty over a 2005 conspiracy to attack Sydney, had fled the country.

The Australian navy said Saturday it seized and destroyed 353 kilograms of heroin with an estimated street value of more than Aus$700 million (US$627 million) in a mission off the coast of Tanzania.

HMAS Melbourne discovered the haul when crew boarded a vessel on Wednesday as part of a mission "in support of deterring terrorism and promoting peace and security in the maritime regions of the Middle East and Indian Ocean".

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Saturday welcomed the decision by Indonesia to parole drug trafficker Schapelle Corby and called for her privacy to be respected.

The 36-year-old, whose incarceration has fascinated the Australian public, was granted parole on Friday in Bali, where she was convicted and jailed for 20 years in 2005 for trying to smuggle marijuana into the tourist island.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott was unmoved by new reports Friday of asylum-seeker abuse and claims a group was turned back to Indonesia in a lifeboat, saying his harsh policies were "working".

He rebuffed suggestions the military should release official video of their "Operation Sovereign Borders" missions after an asylum-seeker told Fairfax Media three men on his boat allegedly had their hands held against hot engine pipes by navy personnel to punish them for protesting.

The Australian government on Thursday said it will give Malaysia two customs boats as a gift, part of a strategy to tackle people-smuggling in the region.

Most asylum-seeker boats bound for Australia make the precarious journey from Indonesia, but Malaysia is sometimes used as a transit country to transport people through the Thai-Malay border to Sumatra across the Malacca Strait.