Ms Parker said the naval task group was also "unlikely" to have entered the Coral Sea over the last week because the Australian Government would have alerted the public by now.
Given the task group was travelling at about 13 knots when it was detected, the group could have travelled roughly 5,000km since December 1, which Ms Parker said meant it "could now be located somewhere between the Marshall Islands, Nauru, or the region east of the Solomons, staying north of PNG".
