Refugee advocates have criticised a new Coalition plan to greatly expand the number of asylum seekers sent to Nauru.
Opposition leader Tony Abbott says a Coalition government would erect a tent city on Nauru, to initially house at least 2000 people.
The plan comes amid further criticism of Labor's decision to process all asylum seekers arriving by boat, in Papua New Guinea.
Michael Kenny reports.
The Coalition says it will discuss its proposal to expand processing facilities with the Nauru government this week.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says the plan would involve Nauru being able to take an extra 2000 asylum seekers, expanding to about 5000.
He says initially, they'd be housed in tents, pending the rebuilding of accommodation blocks destroyed in recent riots.
Mr Abbott says the expansion of the facilities on Nauru would be merely one part of a broader plan to deter people smuggling under a Coalition government.
"We have been absolutely consistent for well over a decade. The Coalition's clear policy to stop the boats has involved vigorous offshore processing on places like Nauru, Temporary Protection Visas to deny the people smugglers a product to sell, and the willingness to turn boats around where it is safe to do so."
Mr Abbott says under a Coalition government, any asylum seekers who are assessed as refugees on Nauru would be resettled in other countries, including Australia.
Immigration Minister Tony Burke admits the Coalition's plan to expand the facilities on Nauru has some merit.
However Mr Burke believes the Coalition should not have given a specific figure on the number of asylum seekers it believes could be accommodated on the island.
"You don't set a limit on capacity. The moment you do that, you give people smugglers a target to fill and instead of it being a policy for five years, by putting that limit on capacity, it's effectively a policy for a fortnight."
Mr Burke believes Labor has a superior plan because under its deal with the PNG government, all refugees would be re-settled in that country with no asylum seekers who arrive by boat ending up resettled in Australia.
Amid the debate in Australia over asylum seeker policy, the Fiji government has voiced opposition to the Rudd Government's agreement with PNG.
Fiji's Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola says he believes Australia is arrogantly dumping its asylum seeker problem on Pacific nations.
"For an Australian problem, you have proposed a Melanesian solution that threatens to de-stabilise the already delicate social and economic balances in our societies. The Australian government has used its economic muscle to persuade one of our Melanesian governments to accept thousands of people who are not Pacific Islanders- a great number of them permanently. This was done to solve a domestic political problem and for short-term political gain without proper consideration of the long-term consequences."
Neither Australia nor PNG has given an indication so far on how much they believe the asylum seeker agreement is likely to cost, saying they are still negotiating.
PNG's Prime Minister Peter O'Neill says Australia will meet the costs of resettling any asylum seekers who it sends to PNG, and who are found to be genuine refugees.
The Australian Lawyers Alliance believes Labor and the Coalition are harming the country's reputation by pursuing policies which fail to meet Australia's obligations under the United Nations Refugee Convention.
An alliance spokesman Greg Barns says he believes a number of Pacific nations are being bullied into implementing inhumane policies.
"The way in which Australia is trampling on the sovereignty of these countries - I mean these countries are effectively becoming client states of Australia. Australia will give these countries money in exchange for these countries doing what Australia should be doing itself. It's a very poor image around the region. It shows Australia acting as a diplomatic and legal bully boy in the region."
That is a view shared by Canberra-based refugee advocate Marion Le.
Ms Le says she visited Nauru in 2003 and 2004 when the former Howard government set up a detention centre there.
She says it is a very small island with limited resources and she questions how the Coalition would be able to send thousands of asylum seekers there if it wins the upcoming election.
"And if you just look at one problem they would have with (up to) 5000 people suddenly thrust there and all the additional infrastructure that needs to be put in place to keep that number of people- you've got an incredible rubbish problem for a start! Nauru is already now almost a gigantic rubbish tip! So I mean it's a very limited place to be putting people in large numbers over a very short period of time."
