Labor's Papua New Guinea asylum seeker solution won't stop boats from making the perilous journey to Australia, a prominent Christmas Islander says.
Gordon Thomson, shire councillor and general secretary of the Union of Christmas Island Workers, said the threats faced by minority groups in countries such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan were compelling and often outweighed any concerns about going to PNG.
Mr Thomson, a Christmas Island resident for the past 15 years, said deportation to PNG via Christmas Island would be preferable in the eyes of many asylum seekers, who otherwise faced "a bullet in the head" in their strife-torn home nations.
"If you were a Hazara in Afghanistan, you're not going to stay there," he told AAP.
"The number of Afghans who have got some form of asylum in Pakistan are being infiltrated by the Taliban. And for their own security needs, Pakistan has kicked a whole lot of Afghanis out.
"So where are they going to go?
"And certainly Sri Lanka is going to have problems for several years.
"I don't think the boats are going to stop coming. Maybe winding up in PNG won't bother them so much."
Mr Thomson said the PNG policy was cruel and he hoped voters would come around to thinking Australia could do more for people in desperate situations around the world.
