Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland says the human rights of asylum seekers sent to Malaysia will be respected, despite Malaysia indicating it wants to downgrade the role of the United Nations in the process.
Documents obtained by the ABC show Malaysia wants to be free from the human rights rules of the UN's High Commission for Refugees' when processing asylum seekers on behalf of Australia.
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And in a worrying development for rights activists, asylum-seeker children who arrive alone on Australian shores after surviving a perilous journey will be turned away and sent to Malaysia as well, Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said.
"I don't want unaccompanied minors, I don't want children to come to Australia thinking or knowing that there is some sort of exemption in place," he told ABC television on Thursday.
"I never want to go through, and I never want our nation to go through, what we went through in December and in the months following burying children as a result of a boat accident," Mr Bowen.
"It is inevitable that will occur again unless we break the people smuggler's business model."
Mr McClelland says the human rights of asylum seekers will still be respected if they are sent to Malaysia, which isn't a signatory to the UN convention on refugees.
Australia is proposing to send 800 asylum seekers to the 'back of the queue' in Malaysia in exchange for four thousand already processed refugees.
Under the swap deal announced on May 7, up to 800 new boat arrivals to Australia will be relocated to Malaysia for processing, with Prime Minister Julia Gillard saying they will also go to the back of the queue.
