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Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has dismissed calls from both sides of politics for a bipartisan approach to offshore processing, saying it is up to the Greens to break the political stalemate.
Politicians from both major parties have appealed for the Parliament to find a compromise on asylum seeker policy, after a boat carrying 200 people capsized north-west of Christmas Island last Thursday.
The major parties have been in a stalemate for months after talks broke down over offshore processing, and there appears to be little chance of compromise when Parliament returns this week.
Around 90 people are thought to be dead after an extensive search and rescue effort throughout Friday and Saturday failed to find any more survivors of the disaster.
Australian Navy crews and merchant vessels rescued 109 people, including a 13-year-old boy, on Thursday evening.
Border protection authorities say they have now recovered 17 bodies from the area where the boat capsized, while Customs officials stopped another asylum seeker boat carrying 60 people, south-west of Christmas Island today.
Labor frontbenchers are campaigning for the Coalition to reconsider support for the Government’s so-called Malaysia solution, with Foreign Minister Bob Carr saying “the time is now”.
“Without the Malaysia solution you’ve got a cobbled together Indonesian solution that is wholly unsatisfactory,” he said.
“It’s not protecting the borders, it’s not saving lives, and I just hope that this week can reach out across the Parliament and settle on something that’s satisfactory to both sides.”
But Mr Abbott has reiterated that the Coalition will not back the Malaysia solution, saying “it is not the job of the Opposition to support bad policy”.
He says the Government will have to negotiate with the Greens or take the drastic action in Parliament of making asylum policy a matter of confidence and putting the legislation to a vote.
He says the Malaysia solution is not offshore processing, but offshore “dumping”.
“If the Prime Minister thinks a particular bit of legislation is that important that it should be declared in the national interest, she should declare it to be a matter of confidence and put it to the Parliament on that basis,” he said.
“What is needed here is not bipartisanship, it is effective policy.”
Political storm
The Greens maintain they will not support any offshore processing plan, with Senator Sarah Hanson-Young saying that offshore processing flies in the face of the refugee convention.
Senator Young is warning of a political storm.
“Is not going to be a very nice week in Federal Parliament,” she said.
Last week, Liberal backbencher Mal Washer called on the Coalition to consider all options, including Labor’s Malaysia solution.
Liberal backbencher Judi Moylan, a long-time refugee advocate, said she was horrified that more people died trying to flee danger and a political solution must be negotiated.
Health Minister Tanya Plibersek says Tony Abbott should not ignore the concerns from inside his party.
“I think he needs to listen to the people in his own party who are saying go back to the table,” she said.
Refugee groups want an independent inquiry into last week’s drownings.
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