Julia Gillard tries to turn blame for asylum-seeker boats on Tony Abbott's 'recklessness'

LABOR is seeking to blame future asylum boat arrivals on Tony Abbott as it prepares to abandon offshore processing.

JULIA Gillard is seeking to blame future asylum boat arrivals on Tony Abbott as Labor prepares to abandon offshore processing in the face of political deadlock.

The Prime Minister today accused Mr Abbott of neglecting the national interest by refusing to back Labor's Malaysian Solution, saying he was “terrified Malaysia would work”.

“His political opposition will see more boats come to this country - that's how reckless he's being,” Ms Gillard told ABC radio.

But the Opposition Leader said processing on Nauru remained the best option, and it was the government's responsibility to break the stalemate.

“My responsibility is to good policy and consistent policy,” Mr Abbott told Seven's Sunrise program.

“If the government wants offshore processing, it can have offshore processing, it should have offshore processing, and it should be at Nauru.”

He also held out the possibility of Coalition support for processing on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island if the government agreed to the opposition's proposed changes to the Migration Act.

But Labor is standing firm. Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said if the stalemate was not resolved the government would be forced into onshore-only processing.

The government wants to allow offshore processing in countries that provide protections offered under the UN refugee convention without having to be signatories to the agreement.

“If the legislation does fail that will mean any offshore would not be legally sound and we would not be able to proceed,” Mr Bowen said.

As the government prepares to introduce its changes to the Migration Act to parliament tomorrow, Mr Bowen accused the opposition of “Malaysia bashing”.

“Being a signatory to the refugee convention is important but it is not the be-all and end-all,” Mr Bowen told ABC Radio.

“Malaysia went into this in good faith and why should we or anybody doubt their commitment to abiding by the undertakings we have negotiated? We have negotiated this in good faith and I think some of the Malaysian bashing is very unfortunate.”

The opposition wants processing countries to be full parties to the refugee convention.

Opposition legal affairs spokesman George Brandis said the Coalition was prepared to go “some of the way” in helping the government change the Migration Act.

“But we will not tolerate an Act with absolutely no human rights protection,” he told ABC Radio.

Under Labor's Malaysian arrangement, up to 800 asylum-seekers arriving in Australia by boat would have been transferred to Kuala Lumpur in exchange for Australia accepting 4000 properly-processed refugees.

The Coalition says its alternative - reopening an offshore processing centre in Nauru - is an effective deterrent with a more humane outcome.