Immigration Minister Scott Morrison says Labor has repeated one of its biggest mistakes in government by voting to quash the reintroduction of temporary protection visas (TPVs).
Mr Morrison said Labor had voted to honour the "promise" of people smugglers to asylum seekers when it joined with the Greens on Monday night to pass a disallowance motion in the Senate.
The Howard-era visas denying refugees permanent residency were abolished by Labor in 2008, but brought back by the Abbott government in October.
"What is clear is that the Labor Party has repeated one of their worst mistakes in government," Mr Morrison told ABC radio on Tuesday.
"Over five-and-a-half years ago they abolished temporary protection visas, and in the wake of that over 50,000 people turned up on over 800 boats, including over 8000 children.
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"There were more than 1100 deaths at sea, and over those five-and-a-half years the Labor Party has learnt nothing about their border failures."
The coalition will now have to wait six months to reintroduce the October regulation which brought back TPVs.
Asked if there was another mechanism the government could use to reinstate the visas, Mr Morrison said: "The government will be making further announcements on this in the times ahead."
The immigration minister said only a handful of the visas had been granted since TPVs were reintroduced.
However, he said more than 180 people on bridging visas had returned to their home countries "because they knew there was nothing of an incentive in hanging around for a temporary protection visas".
"You never fulfil the promise of people smugglers if you're serious about having strong borders," he said.
"It doesn't matter if people turned up three days ago, three weeks ago, or three years ago, if you come to Australia the wrong way, a serious government on border protection will not reward that act with permanent residency."
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who raised the disallowance motion in the Senate, said the visas were "one more step in their (the government's) toolbox of cruelty".
"They separate families, and mothers and fathers from newborn," she told ABC radio.
"They keep children locked up in immigration detention. They've stopped children from going to school."
