Labor has resumed its processing of asylum seeker claims after an 11-month hiatus.
That means sorting through over 22,000 cases, where asylum seekers arrived by boat since offshore processing resumed last year.
Arif Hazara was in detention for five months, after arriving in Australia as a refugee.
The then 17-year-old was eventually granted a permanent protection visa. But he says he feels for those who are still being processed.
"I hope Kevin Rudd doesn't just restart the processing, but makes it quick, faster, and release more asylum seekers into the community," he said.
Last year, the Gillard government stopped processing asylum claims.
It introduced a no-advantage policy, where those who arrive by boat would have their claims processed no more quickly than those who waited for a humanitarian visa in a refugee camp.
Since then the boats have kept coming, with tens of thousands seeking protection.
Labor now admits it was slow to act, and has resumed processing its backlog of claims.
Within Australia, there are currently close to 9,000 people in immigration detention centres. In April that included more than 1,600 children, a number that rose by more than 500 in the space of a month.
Experts say while there is no quick fix, what has become clear in the past decade is the importance of a regional approach.
"I think that's the only way to manage the Australian concerns about sovereignty, but also managing to secure some kind of humanitarian protection and some recognition of the different kinds of environments being involved here. This isn't something Australia can lock itself out from the [rest of the] world on," says Andrew Carr from the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre.
Asylum seekers are processed according to how they arrive and where they have come from.
Those who come by plane can apply for a protection visa immediately, but those who arrive by boat can't apply until they are assessed as being a refugee.
While that happens they are sent to whichever detention centre is available.
And after Australia successfully excised the mainland from its own migration zone anyone who arrives here can still be sent offshore - details which could be given further review after the election.
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