Critics told to get real on asylum problem - Brisbane Times

AAP

It's "delusional" to think Australia's asylum seeker boat arrivals problem could have been resolved in the three months since Labor restarted offshore processing, a parliamentary committee has been told.

The federal joint committee on human rights was on Monday hearing testimony from members of the government's independent expert panel on asylum seeker policy.

The panel in August made a number of recommendations, including the reopening of the coalition-era offshore processing centres on Nauru and Papua New Guinea's Manus Island.

The federal government accepted that recommendation and has already transferred asylum seekers from the Middle East and Sri Lanka to the islands.

But the federal opposition says Labor doesn't "have their hearts" in stopping the boats and destroying the people smugglers' business model.

Expert panel member and refugee advocate Paris Aristotle told the committee in Canberra the issue was incredibly complex and required a long-term commitment to be effective.

"If we think this is going to be fixed in three months we are delusional," he said.

The panel's 22-point plan to stop asylum seekers making the dangerous voyage to Australia by boat also recommended the government pursue regional solutions including its Malaysia people swap deal.

Under that plan, Australia would have sent 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia for processing and received 4000 processed refugees in return.

But the deal was rejected by the High Court and it couldn't get enough support in parliament.

Panel chair Angus Houston told the committee there was more work to be done before Malaysia was a viable option, noting it probably wasn't a good time to raise the issue in the build-up to that nation's elections.

"Essentially, there needs to be more protections for minors," Mr Houston said.

He also said that since August at least 213 people had died at sea and more deaths were likely in coming months.

"With the monsoon season upon us now I think it's inevitable there will be further loss of life at sea," he said.

"The ultimate human right is a right to life without risk and we are passionate in terms of our desire to ... a regional solution eventuate so these risks can be eliminated."

Mr Houston said while the government had made progress on some of the panel's recommendations, others would take years to implement.

"Of course, the other thing is, it is a very costly package," he said.

"It's in the order of something just under $5 billion over the forward estimates so I think that is another constraint in terms of the progress that can be made in a short period of time."

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees regional representative Richard Towle told the committee there was no fundamental objection to deterring asylum seekers, provided their human rights were honoured.

"As a matter of priority we think well-resourced countries like Australia should process the people who come to its shores," he said.