Nearly six in ten Australians oppose the government's plan to send asylum seekers to Malaysia, with many believing it will do little to stop the arrival of people via boat, a poll showed Monday.
The Nielsen poll of 1,400 voters found 58 percent were against the deal, which will see Australia send 800 boatpeople to Malaysia in return for taking 4,000 of their refugees over four years, the Sydney Morning Herald said.
Asked about the proposal's impact, 58 percent said it would make no difference to boat arrivals, while 23 percent felt these would increase.
Only 16 percent thought the numbers of asylum seekers risking their lives to reach Australia via transit hubs such as Indonesia and Malaysia would fall as a result of the new policy.
"The electorate views everything the government does through a prism of suspicion -- 'Whatever you are doing, we don't like it'," Nielsen's John Stirton told the Herald.
The government is expected to begin sending boat arrivals to Malaysia for processing as soon as the deal is finalised, with Thailand and Papua New Guinea also indicating they could accept asylum seekers from Australia.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has said the first batch to be sent offshore for processing will be the 32 who arrived in Australia over the weekend - despite no deal yet being finalised with another government.
Until then, they will be detained at an immigration detention facility on the Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island, a site of recent violent unrest among frustrated asylum seekers.
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