No Labor MP will abstain from offshore bill says Immigration Minister

Chris Bowen is "absolutely" confident no Labor MP will abstain from voting on the government's crucial offshore processing bill.

IMMIGRATION Minister Chris Bowen is "absolutely" confident not a single Labor MP will abstain from voting on the government's crucial offshore processing bill, potentially sparing Julia Gillard a humiliating and destabilising defeat on the floor of the hung parliament.

Speaking to Sky News's Australian Agenda, Mr Bowen also said the 800 places the government negotiated as part of the deal were "quarantined" and could be used, if the opposition voted with the government to restore offshore processing.

With parliament due to vote on the government's bill next month, the minister predicted caucus solidarity would carry the day, despite a string of very public objections by MPs from Labor's Left.

Mr Bowen said there had been a "good debate" within the parliamentary party about the issue, with he and the Prime Minister fielding questions from concerned MPs for "as long as it took".

"Look, clearly these are emotional issues and there are people with strong views, in the Liberal Party and in the Labor Party," Mr Bowen said. "But the caucus decision is clear."

Both Labor and the opposition have introduced competing amendments that would restore the right of the government to resume offshore processing of asylum-seekers following last month's High Court ruling, which declared the government's Malaysia Solution unlawful.

Labor's bill effectively gives the government unconditional authority to transfer asylum-seekers wherever it wishes whereas the Coalition's amendment restricts removal to countries that have signed the UN refugees convention.

Mr Bowen said the Coalition's stance was hypocritical, citing its policy of towing boats back to Indonesia, which is not a signatory to the convention. Both the Coalition and the government have vowed to vote against the other's bills, meaning the crossbenchers will have the final say.

Although Labor's bill is certain to be defeated when it reaches the Senate, the Gillard government is working furiously to avoid a defeat in the lower house.

Although symbolic, such an outcome would reinforce the Coalition's argument that the hung parliament is unworkable.

It would also partially absolve the opposition of responsibility to restore offshore processing by spreading blame for the defeat among the crossbenchers.

If the bill is defeated, the government has predicted an increase in boat arrivals with a corresponding effect on Australia's detention network.

The government is hoping to convince Nationals MP Tony Crook, who sits as an independent but is aligned with the Coalition, to supply the crucial vote necessary to pass the bill.

A spokesman for Mr Crook yesterday denied reports he had decided which way to vote, saying Mr Crook was considering his position.

Mr Bowen said without fresh legislation the Coalition would be unable to transfer unaccompanied minors overseas, creating a two-tiered system that people-smugglers would probably exploit by loading boats with children.