Labor frontbencher Craig Emerson has moved to quell unrest within the caucus over a deal to send 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia.
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen is expected to soon sign a deal with Malaysia under which 800 people who arrived by boat, including unaccompanied minors, would be sent for processing in Malaysia, while 4000 already assessed refugees would come to Australia.
The deal followed an agreement reached in Bali in March - backed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and International Organisation for Migration - under which individual countries could cooperate to tackle people-smuggling and make arrangements to process asylum seekers.
But some Labor MPs, mostly from the left faction, have questioned the inclusion of children in the deal, with West Australian backbencher Melissa Parke describing them as "sacrificial lambs".
She said the children were entitled to have their welfare and rights protected and the minister had a duty as their official guardian to ensure Australia complied with its legal obligations.
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Independent MP Andrew Wilkie said on Monday the government had lost its "moral compass" on the issue.
Dr Emerson, who hails from the party's right faction, said everyone in the government shared Ms Parke's concerns and the UN refugee agency would be involved in the final agreement.
"We also share concerns for children arriving unauthorised in very risky circumstances, for the children who lost their lives when they were smashed up against rocks before Christmas on Christmas Island," Mr Emerson told Sky News.
"If we have concerns for children coming across risky seas and losing their lives I wouldn't think that would be a loss of moral compass."
He said there were hundreds of asylum-seeking children who had been processed in Malaysia waiting for a country to give them a safe home.
