Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is defending his Government's stand on border protection after secret documents revealed how it tried to block asylum seekers from getting permanent visas.
A leaked briefing from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection shows former immigration minister Scott Morrison backed delaying the visa process for hundreds of people.
The Coalition won the 2013 election largely on the strength of its "Stop the boats" slogan, and then-immigration minister Scott Morrison led a new era in what was termed border protection.
That included preventing asylum seekers who arrived by boat from being granted permanent protection.
Now, a leaked departmental briefing shows Mr Morrison signed off on a plan to slow the visa process by asking intelligence agencies to delay security checks so applicants would miss their deadline.
The principal solicitor at the Refugee Advice and Casework Service in Sydney, Sarah Dale, says her clients started to notice the delays.
"We had a number of clients who had arrived before this time, who had lodged visas for protection -- they were eligible for permanent-protection visas -- and then we saw the process just slow. You know, we had clients come into our office asking us weekly, 'What's happening? What's happening? Where's my file at? Where's my visa?'"
Refugee caseworkers say the result was decisions which should have been made within 90 days were taking three to five years instead.
Documents show, without the intervention, 30 extra asylum seekers could have been granted permanent protection each week.
But Mr Morrison has told SBS News it was his policy and practice to put Australia's national-security interests first, and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has defended him.
"When he was the minister for immigration and border protection, he stopped the boats. He did an outstanding job in securing our borders. And we make no apologies for sending the clearest message to the people smugglers and to their would-be customers, 'If you want to come, or think you can come, to Australia on a people smuggler's boat, you're wrong.'"
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, asked by SBS News for his reaction to the leaked briefing, says he does not know all the facts of the case.
Labor's immigration policies have inched closer to the Coalition's policies, and Mr Shorten says he will continue the turn-back-boats policy.
"When you say inched closer, let me make it very clear, because sometimes the Government tries to mischaracterise Labor's position: We want to stop the people smugglers. Whenever the Government says Labor won't do that, they are giving a signal to the people smugglers to test our system. I wish, for once, they'd think about the national interest and people's safety, rather than just trying to turn it into a partisan issue."
But Mr Shorten says he does not agree with delaying permanent protection.
"That does not mean, therefore, we should have indefinite detention for people on Manus and Nauru. I don't accept that it's a binary 'indefinite detention or people smugglers.' I don't think that's right."
