Europe doesn't need three-word sloganeering from Australia to solve its migrant crisis, federal Labor says.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Tuesday the only way to stop the tragedy in the Mediterranean was to "stop the boats" - a policy adopted by his government under Operation Sovereign Borders.
But Opposition immigration spokesman Richard Marles says the magnitude of the crisis in Europe is completely different to the one off Australia's coast.
"The idea that you can be turning around thousands of boats on the Mediterranean is just silly," he told Sky News on Wednesday.
The co-architect of Operation Sovereign Borders said earlier Europe should take a lead from Australia in dealing with people smuggling from North Africa.
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But retired Major-General Jim Molan added he wasn't convinced boat turnbacks would work in the Mediterranean Sea.
The United Nations refugee agency has confirmed 800 migrants died in a shipwreck off Libya on Sunday.
