The Australian Greens want the country to almost double its annual humanitarian refugee intake.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Yong said the minor party does not want people to make the dangerous sea journey to Australia.
Instead she wants Australia to increase its refugee intake from about 14,000 now to 25,000.
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"That would go a long way to dealing with the numbers of people (coming) currently," she told ABC radio on Monday.
The senator rejected suggestions onshore processing was an incentive for asylum seekers to come by boat.
"In 2011/12, we have seen an increase of 20 per cent of asylum seekers around the world," she said.
"Of course that has meant an increase, in our region, in the number of people seeking asylum."
Both Labor and the coalition are under pressure to reach a compromise on asylum-seeker policy in the wake of a fatal boat capsize late last week in which more than 90 people are feared dead.
The Greens have rejected suggestions they are responsible for large numbers of asylum seekers coming to Australia because of their onshore processing policy.
