West Australian Premier urges asylum consensus

COLIN Barnett has urged the federal government and the opposition to reach agreement to begin processing asylum-seekers offshore

WEST Australian Premier Colin Barnett has urged both the federal government and the opposition to reach agreement to begin processing asylum-seekers offshore as the Immigration Department prepares to open a fifth detention facility in his state.

Mr Barnett told The Weekend Australian that Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's criticisms of Julia Gillard's ill-fated Malaysia Solution were valid but, if he had been in Mr Abbott's shoes, he "probably would have" helped the government implement it by choosing not to block it in parliament.

"No government is going to hand over or share government with an opposition but I think in that case the opposition should say 'OK, you are an elected government, albeit by the slimmest of margins, if you want to implement a policy we will provide our criticisms but we won't stand in the way of it and you (the government) bear the consequences," he said.

Mr Barnett described the political row over asylum-seekers since the Java boat sinking last month as crass and upsetting.

"This last episode upset me and I think it upset a lot of Australians where we had a fairly crass political squabble between the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition when over 100 people had just died at sea," he said.

"The two national leaders were arguing the politics of asylum-seekers rather than the merits of the issue, and that was my criticism. Constructive criticism."

There are now 3554 people in immigration detention on the mainland, including 1182 in Western Australia where there are two detention centres, a family camp and a residential housing facility.

The Northam detention centre in the West Australian wheatbelt, due for completion about March, will hold up to 600 men.

Mr Barnett has long opposed offshore processing of children who arrive seeking asylum without a parent or guardian.

But for others, he said it did not matter where offshore processing occurred. He said he could not understand why Ms Gillard did not agree to send boatpeople to the tiny island of Nauru.

"I don't suggest I have the solution to asylum-seekers. I don't think anyone does," Mr Barnett said.

"I do think we should have offshore processing -- if it's onshore there will just be a flood.

"I don't really mind where it is offshore, as long as it's run by Australians, by the Australian government and it's done in a proper, professional and compassionate way."

Ms Gillard had planned to send 800 boatpeople to Malaysia to be processed by the UNHCR and the International Organisation for Migration. They would have lived in the community in Malaysia with no more chance of gaining permanent residency in Australia than any of the approximately 90,000 other refugees there.

In exchange, Australia agreed to take from Malaysia an additional 4000 verified refugees over four years.