A Labor frontbencher has broken party ranks and called for the end to the ongoing detention of asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island.
Lisa Singh, who has been relegated to the fourth and unwinnable spot on Tasmanian Labor's Senate ticket at the next election, said a new conversation was needed about refugee policy in Australia.
"I really think that the ongoing mandatory indefinite detention of people on Manus Island and Nauru has to stop," she told ABC TV's Q&A on Monday night, describing it as inhumane.
Colleague Terri Butler says Labor does not support indefinite detention of asylum seekers.
It backed good processes that allowed refugee claims to be settled as quickly as possibly so people could be released.
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"No one wants to see an inhumane detention system," she told reporters in Canberra.
