An expert panel on asylum seeker policy has recommended offshore processing in Nauru and Papua New Guinea.
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- Establishing and operating a processing centre in Nauru for 1,500 asylum seekers - $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion.
- Establishing a processing centre in PNG for up to 600 asylum seekers - $900 million.
- Implementing the Malaysia arrangement - $80 million.
- Increasing humanitarian program from 13,750 to 20,000 places a year - $1.4 billion.
- Increasing family migration by 4,000 places a year - $800 million
The federal government-appointed panel led by former defence force chief Angus Houston has recommended the reopening of the Howard government-era detention centre on PNG's Manus Island.
They are among 22 key recommendations from the panel that also includes refugee policy specialist Paris Aristotle and former diplomat Michael L'Estrange.
The panel recommended parliament pass legislation to support the transfer of people to third countries "as a matter of urgency".
"The legislation should require that any future designation of a country as an appropriate place for processing," the report said.
The panel also recommended future asylum seekers not be eligible to sponsor family members to come to Australia under the Special Humanitarian Program.
The panel also recommends the government increase its annual humanitarian intake to about 20,000 - up from the current 13,750.
It also recommends that Australia continue to boost its bilateral cooperation with Indonesia, including enhanced joint surveillance and response patrols.
And it recommends Australia accept an increased number of asylum seekers from Indonesia every year.
Mr Houston said the task of coming up with recommendations had been "challenging".
"Given the global and regional dimensions of asylum seeking there are no quick and simple solutions," he told reporters in Canberra.
Mr Houston said he had delivered the panel's report to Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Immigration Minister Chris Bowen on Monday morning.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott also was briefed as well as the Greens and independents.
Mr Houston said the set of 22 proposals were integrated.
"We recommend a policy approach that is hard-headed, but not hard-hearted, that is realistic not idealistic, that is driven by a sense of humanity as well as fairness," he said.
From late 2001 to June 2012, 964 asylum seekers and boat crew had been lost at sea while en-route to Australia, Mr Houston said.
Of these, 604 people had died since October 2009.
"Like all Australians, we are deeply concerned about this tragic loss of life at sea," he said.
"To do nothing is unacceptable."
Mr Houston said it was the panel's view that the incentive for asylum seekers to arrive illegally by boat be shifted in favour of regular migration pathways.
He said Australian policy settings and regional arrangements needed to be adjusted.
"It is in our national interest that we co-ordinate with regional and source countries in a more orderly, structured and effective way."
A "no advantage principle" should be enforced to deter people smugglers, "whereby irregular migrants gain no benefit by choosing to circumvent regular migration mechanism", Mr Houston said.
Mr Houston called for the development of an enhanced regional co-operation framework.
"Australia needs to engage in, and help facilitate, the development of practical strategies with regional states," he said.
This would involve joint approaches, and common standards on protections, registration and processing of asylum claims.
Mr Houston said until regional co-operation arrangements became more fully established there needed to be policy "circuit breakers" to encourage people to use regular pathways to come to Australia.
There should be disincentives to come by boat, he said.
The panel believed that a substantially increased and more regionally-focused humanitarian program would give greater confidence to asylum seekers in the region that regular migration pathways provided a better alternative to dangerous boat voyages.
The panel therefore recommended immediately increasing Australia's humanitarian intake from 13,750 to 20,000 places each year.
Consideration should be given to further increasing the intake to 27,000 within five years, Mr Houston said.
