The federal government last week said changes in the political circumstances in both countries lead to a halting of asylum claims.
Nearly forty suspected asylum boats have been intercepted this year alone, and the issue has become a politically-sensitive one for the Labor government.
The federal opposition has pledged to cut immigration, putting pressure on the government to take action.
Spokesman Sam Pari says the Tamil community has been bitterly disappointed by the government's policy shift.
"Well this policy ends up punishing the victims yet again," Dr Pai says.
"If Australia wants to decrease the number of asylum seekers coming here, then they have to look at the root cause of the problem."
"The problem is in Sri Lanka. If Australia put pressure on Sri Lanka to improve its human rights record, then people won't be fleeing Sri Lanka and coming to Australia," he says.
Refugee advocate Ian Rintoul says the changes will cause an increase in demonstrations by desperate asylum seekers.
"It's almost inevitable that an announcement of that scale is going to cause a great deal of concern amongst the detainees," Mr Rintoul says.
"I think we are likely to see more protests, if not with the people who are already at Christmas Island because the government has said their processing will continue, but for those arriving at Christmas Island, we are going to put you in detention, but if you're Afghan we won't be processing you for at least 6 months, and Sri Lankans, it will be 3 months before you know whether your application is going to be looked at."
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