The federal government has renewed its call on the opposition to support its bill to allow offshore processing of asylum seekers in Malaysia.
Australian authorities intercepted a boat carrying 116 asylum seekers near Christmas Island on Tuesday, adding to a steadily rising number of arrivals since October.
That was when the government conceded it could not implement its controversial Malaysian swap deal and decided to revert to onshore processing.
With boat arrivals set to continue over the summer months, Immigration Minister Chris Bowen says Opposition Leader Tony Abbott should support Labor's bill.
"If the opposition is saying today that they want to see offshore processing revived - good," he told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday.
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"Let them vote for it in the House of Representatives."
Until then, he said, Mr Abbott's complaints about boat arrivals would be hollow words.
"They have made a political decision, a calculation, that it is not in their political interests to see boat arrivals in Australia stop," Mr Bowen said.
"And therefore anything they say is a hollow complaint because they won't vote for the legislation that would allow us, and allow them ... to implement offshore processing."
The government abandoned a plan to put its bill to a vote on October 13 after it became clear it could not win enough parliamentary support for it.
The opposition says it will only support the bill if the government supports amendments that would allow its preferred offshore processing option of Nauru but forbid the Malaysian option.
