Climate change minister Mark Butler admits there's some discomfort within Labor ranks about Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's harsh asylum seeker policy.
Mr Butler, a member of the Labor left, said it was however accepted that the boat people issue could not be allowed to continue on as it had been.
"There would be people within the Labor movement and the Labor party and the broader community who would feel uncomfortable with this," he told Sky News.
"In my discussions with some people over the last couple of days, although there is a level of discomfort about some aspects of this, there is also a very strong and clear recognition that something very different needs to be done."
Under the policy announced on Friday, all asylum seekers arriving by boat will be transferred to PNG for processing.
If found to be asylum seekers, they will be settled in PNG not Australia. If not found to be asylum seekers, they will be returned to their home country or a third country.
Mr Butler said the numbers arriving, the ruthlessness of people smugglers in endangering even very small children on leaky boats and the numbers being lost indicated this could not continue.
"Yes there is a level of discomfort I am sure in parts of the Labor Party and the Labor movement but there is a very strong recognition that this sort of game changer is needed to start to arrest the numbers of people coming over from Indonesia is particular," he said.
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