Abbott touts Pacific Solution

A future coalition government would return to a Pacific Solution-type arrangement to deal with asylum seekers, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has announced.

Releasing further detail of the opposition's immigration policy on Thursday, he said the coalition would immediately look at setting up processing camps in other countries.

"The next coalition government will swiftly begin negotiations with foreign countries to ensure that there is offshore processing available in those countries should Christmas Island be full," Mr Abbott told reporters in Canberra.

It signals a return to the Pacific Solution of the previous Howard government, which detained asylum seekers at camps on Manus Island and Nauru.

"This is about stopping the boats," Mr Abbott said.

"We've done it before, we'll do it again."

His comments came shortly after the opposition was accused of misleading the public over the impact of temporary protection visas by ignoring the two biggest years on record for asylum seekers arriving in Australia.

An opposition leaflet letterboxed to voters shows a graph to demonstrate the impact of the previous Howard government's border protection policies, including TPVs and the so-called Pacific Solution.

It shows that there were few boats intercepted in Australian waters before Labor came to power and a spike in asylum seeker arrivals in 2008 and 2009 following changes to border protection

policies.

But, says the government, the graph only begins in 2002 and excludes 1999, the year TPVs were introduced and when there were more than 3000 illegal maritime arrivals.

The government has produced figures showing the leaflet also excludes 2001 when there were more than 5000 arrivals, suggesting the introduction of TPVs has little impact on asylum seekers heading to Australia.

The number arriving illegally by boat then falls away dramatically in 2002, following the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and coinciding with the repatriation of more than two

million people.

Earlier in the day, opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the coalition would go back to three-year temporary protection visas of the previous Liberal government.

"It's one of the many bows and arrows that you need to deal with this very difficult problem," he told ABC Radio.

Visa holders would be allowed to work, receive access to Medicare and be forced to go to English classes after a year, he said.

But one change means they will also have to work to receive welfare support.

"In the same way others are required to do work for the dole and things of that nature, we think it's only fair that those same requirements should apply to those receiving these benefits," Mr Morrison said.

Mr Morrison also refused to rule out a return to the Pacific Solution which involved asylum seekers been detained in camps on Manus Island and Nauru.

Liberal MPs arriving at Parliament House on Thursday confirmed the formal policy hadn't been approved by the joint coalition partyroom.

Earlier, Mr Morrison had said it was endorsed by shadow cabinet.

Liberal frontbencher Bruce Billson said the issues had been "debated long and hard in the partyroom".

But pressed on whether the final policy had been put to the partyroom he said: "Aspects of it have been debated."

"What we don't do is send in the invitation card before the wedding and say 'Is everyone happy with that?' before it goes out," Mr Billson said.

"You know what's important and those elements are embedded in the policy."

Backbencher Dennis Jenson clearly wasn't aware of the detail - even though it had been leaked to newspapers.

He didn't know a coalition government would make refugees work for any welfare payments they received.

"I haven't seen that part of the proposal so I can't comment on it," he told reporters when quizzed on the policy.

It was disappointing to see asylum seekers being used as political issue ahead of the election, Australian Greens leader Bob Brown said.

"The policies announced by the coalition today are simply appalling," he told reporters in Canberra, labelling them a return to the Howard-era.

"They're inhumane, they breach international law and they pull the rug from the under the ideal that Australia is a country where you get a fair go."

But Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce said Australians wanted decisive action on border protection.

"The electorate does not accept the nature of borders as they are," he said.

"They do not accept that people who have illegally gone to the front of the queue, for their sins, they get to stay in a four-star resort, four-star hotel in Brisbane."