The Australian Greens say they won't support asylum seeker laws in the Senate and want all parties to sit around a table and negotiate a long-term solution.
Greens leader Christine Milne said Opposition Leader Tony Abbott had agreed to take part in a multi-party committee.
"We have the makings of a long-term regional solution," she told reporters in Canberra. Senator Milne said the bill being debated in the lower house on Wednesday night, proposed by independent Rob Oakeshott, was a "knee-jerk reaction".
But the bill had prompted Mr Abbott to "agree to co-operate" in a multi-party committee. "That is a really important breakthrough," she said.
"This is now the opportunity for the prime minister to convene such a meeting. "We have the makings of a long-term regional solution." Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt said the party would not be supporting the Oakeshott bill or the opposition's amendments.
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"The bills that are being put up will not pass the Senate," he said.
