Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has hosed down expectations that his trip to Indonesia will result in a solution to the number of asylum seeker boats that are travelling to Australia, telling Australians not to hold their breath waiting for an announcement.

Mr Rudd travels to Jakarta on Thursday for two days of talks with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono - his first overseas trip since taking back the Prime Ministership last week.

But before he flew out with wife Therese Rein, Mr Rudd told reporters in Canberra that Australians should not expect any immediate announcement regarding boat arrivals.

''It would be completely wrong and I think disrespectful to the Indonesian President to create any expectation of any immediate change at all,'' Mr Rudd said.

''I am there to have a dialogue with him on this question but I also would emphasise this: that this is part of a regular leaders' meeting.''

Mr Rudd said that the talks would cover the overall Australia-Indonesia relationship as well as asylum seekers.

''Don't hold your breath for some sort of bright and breezy announcement out of Jakarta this time tomorrow afternoon that everything's all fixed and back to normal.''

Despite not making any promises before he left for Indonesia, Mr Rudd stressed that immigration policy had always evolved and he was open to changes.

This followed a rare mea culpa from Mr Rudd and his new Immigration Minister Tony Burke, who have conceded that the Labor government was not quick enough to response to the change in asylum seeker flows in 2009.

When Mr Rudd won government in 2007 he dismantled Howard-era asylum seeker policies – the ''Pacific Solution'' – which included the abolition of offshore processing and temporary protection visas.

The Coalition has since heavily criticised Labor for the move, blaming the government for the sharp and continued increase in boat arrivals in recent years.

As the new Rudd government now moves to reset its approach to asylum seeker issues, Mr Rudd conceded in an interview on Wednesday night that his first government did not respond adequately to a change in asylum seeker flows in 2009.

''If we've made a mistake ... it was in perhaps not being quick enough to respond to the new change in external circumstances with an outflow from Sri Lanka from a civil war in 2009-10,'' he told ABC's 7.30 program.

''There is nothing set in stone with immigration policy or asylum seekers policy. We constantly have to adjust our policy against circumstances. Mr Howard did that in 2001, 2004, 2007. We began to adjust in 2009-10. And, I'm open to adjustments in the future.''

In similar comments, Mr Burke said that Labor should have reacted faster when conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka prompted a marked change in asylum seeker numbers.

''You need to be nimble and you need to be able to adjust your policy settings,'' he said.

Mr Burke said he did not think a mistake was made in 2007 when Labor came to power and dismantled the Howard-era policies. But he told ABC Radio on Thursday that something like the Malaysia Agreement -  first proposed in 2011 - should have been introduced in 2009.

''By the time we did move, when [former immigration minister] Chris Bowen introduced the Malaysian Agreement, the opposition then refused to move ... and they made an error as bad as ours.''

Mr Burke said he has ''no doubt'' that had the Malaysian Agreement been introduced earlier, ''we would not have the challenges that we have now''.

Claim processing resumes

This comes as the Rudd government begins processing the refugee claims of more than 22,000 asylum seekers who arrived by boat since the resumption of offshore processing last year.

Nearly a year after the introduction of the tough ''no advantage'' principle to deter boat arrivals, the first tranche of asylum seekers have been assigned migration agents and told they can begin applying for refugee status, Fairfax Media understands.

The move comes after Foreign Minister Bob Carr found himself under fire for suggesting that many recent boat arrivals were ''economic migrants'' rather than real refugees. Human rights advocates said the government could not possibly know this because none had had their claims processed.

Now that processing is to begin. A source said the first group of arrivals since August 13 - when offshore processing at Nauru and Manus Island resumed and the no-advantage principle introduced - had been told they could apply for asylum.

But even if successful, they will wait several years for their visas, sources said.

Mr Burke said on Thursday that the fact that processing had re-started did not mean that it was  a "quick pathway" to the issuing of visas.

Under the ''no-advantage'' principle, refugees who come by boat have to wait as long for resettlement as they would if they had stayed overseas in a refugee camp and waited for their claims to be processed through formal channels.

It is not clear whether they will be able to work while waiting for their visas.

Mr Burke is under pressure to grant such people work rights, especially those whose refugee claims are successful.

He said that he would always prefer that people be able to work, but added that work rights were removed because it was being used as a marketing tool for people smugglers.

However, the Immigration Minister said he was working with his department to address concerns about how the ''no advantage'' principle will work.

''I accept the argument that we nded a stronger explanation of the no advantage test.''

Economic migrants claim a 'total fantasy'

Senator Carr cut short a radio interview on Wednesday when pressed to justify his claim that up to 100 per cent of asylum seekers arriving on some boats were economic migrants seeking a better life rather than fleeing persecution.

Senator Carr told Melbourne radio station 3AW that there was a ''changing profile'' among recent arrivals. ''In recent times ... and I'm not prejudging individual claims ... the profile of the current arrivals - Iranians, Sri Lankans and Vietnamese - has shifted.''

When quizzed repeatedly how he knew this when more than 20,000 claims had not been assessed, he said he stood by his previous statements.

He expressed irritation because he had been invited on the program to discuss the political upheaval in Egypt, then thanked the interviewer and hung up abruptly.

Also on Wednesday, former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser called Senator Carr's claims ''total nonsense'' and ''a fantasy''.

Mr Fraser, who has been a vocal critic of the asylum seeker policies of both main parties, said Senator Carr had no evidence for his claim.

''I think, a lot of people [who] might have felt maybe some relief that Kevin Rudd was back in charge will now have that very heavily tempered by Senator Carr's most intemperate remarks,'' Mr Fraser said.

''What evidence does he have for this? What he said was a total nonsense. A total fantasy.''

Mr Fraser noted that until asylum seeker processing was stopped last August, some 90 per cent of claims were found to be valid.

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