It highlights a complex argument about whether there's a right way and a wrong way to win refugee status.
Thang Ha was one of Australia's original 'boat people' when he fled war in Vietnam as a child.
But he supports Labor's the government's hardline of taking asylum seekers to Papua New Guinea.
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'Australia must do that or else there will be a wave of immigrants - or refugees - and every day there'd be 10 or 20 boats coming in, arriving at a our shore and seeking refugee.'
Stopping the boats, he says, will help Australia meet its humanitarian obligations.
Liberal Candidate for Chisholm in Victoria, John Nguyen, arrived as a refugee in 1980.
He's been branded a hypocrite for supporting coalition policy, but, he says, his critics are missing the point.
'How do you look the sixteen million people in the eye and say to them 'I'm sorry you're going to just have to wait another day because you didn't have the money to pay people smugglers to bring you to Australia.''
Gary Cox has more.
