Labor Left pushes to give thousands of rejected asylum seekers a second chance

More than 6000 rejected asylum seekers would be given a second chance at claiming refugee status in Australia under a plan being pushed by Labor's Left faction ahead of the party's upcoming national conference.

Labor has committed to abolishing the so-called "fast track" processing scheme created by Scott Morrison as immigration minister, but is divided on what to do with the thousands who were rejected under the "unfair" system.

A cross-factional working group will debate the issue - alongside other refugee matters - this week in an effort to reach a consensus and avoid a nasty fight on the conference floor.

The Left faction wants to create a "review" process for more than 6000 asylum seekers who were rejected since the system commenced in 2015. While some have now left the country, many remain in Australia appealing the decision through the courts.

Government statistics show 5919 asylum seekers from the "legacy caseload" of boat arrivals had been rejected as of October 2018, with another 11,000 cases still in the pipeline.

The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre's director of advocacy Jana Favero has urged Labor to approve a second-chance review. "Across the refugee legal space, this is one of the priority areas that we’re asking for," she said.

Asylum seeker policy was a key topic of discussion at a meeting of delegates from Victoria's Socialist Left faction on Sunday. One senior attendee said: "People want to be bold. They can see that’s what the times require."

Separately, the working group will try to reach consensus on the fast-track issue, as well as financial support for asylum seekers and an increase in Australia's humanitarian intake.

Members of the group include shadow ministers Shayne Neumann and Andrew Giles, MPs Matt Keogh, Peter Khalil and Ged Kearney, as well as Andrew Dettmer, the national president of the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union and Carina Garland, assistant secretary of the Victorian Trades Hall Council.

Labor's triennial national conference - to be held in Adelaide from Sunday - is the party's top policymaking body and comes as Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's opposition maintains a healthy lead in the polls ahead of a May election.

Labor leader Bill Shorten will be tested at national conference. Credit: Justin McManus

While some left-wing figures said they would like the conference to consider the future of offshore processing on Manus Island and Nauru, others played down the prospect of a major fight over asylum seekers.

Labor frontbenchers Tony Burke and Brendan O'Connor, both former immigration ministers, used weekend media appearances to stress there would be "no change" to Labor's border protection policy despite the usual attempts by some in the Left to engineer an overhaul.

While the Labor for Refugees ginger group could make a push against boat turnbacks, this is not expected to gain traction on the conference floor.

Meanwhile, a global survey has found 38 per cent of Australians want fewer immigrants to be allowed to settle in the country - the highest anti-immigration sentiment among English-speaking countries.

The survey by the Washington-based Pew Research Centre found 18 per cent of Australians wanted more immigrants and 42 per cent felt the rate should remain the same as it is now.

That was very similar to the figures in Britain, which is being wracked by a tense debate about leaving the European Union, partly driven by concerns over immigration.

Americans were happier about immigration, despite President Donald Trump’s angry rhetoric about migrants. Only 29 per cent of Americans wanted fewer immigrants, while 24 per cent wanted more and 44 per cent about the same. The figures were similar for Canada.

The highest anti-immigrant feeling was in eastern Europe, led by Greece with 82 per cent of people wanting fewer or no immigrants, and Hungary with 72 per cent. Israel and Russia were also high with 73 per cent and 67 per cent respectively.

With David Wroe