KEY POINTS:
- Nauru could now remain as a regional processing country until 2033.
- The Greens and several crossbenchers want offshore processing to be dumped, but Labor maintains it is appropriate.
- It comes as writer and activist Behrouz Boochani calls for an inquiry into Australia's asylum seeker policies.
Labor has moved to extend offshore detention for a decade just hours after writer and human rights campaigner Behrouz Boochani called for a royal commission into Australia's treatment of asylum seekers.
Mr Boochani, , insisted Australians have a "right to know" what successive governments have imposed on vulnerable people seeking asylum in their country.
The government, which has , on Tuesday moved to reauthorise as a regional processing country, which could see the centre remain open until 2033.
Journalist and human rights advocate Behrouz Boochani speaks to parliamentarians and supporters during an address at Parliament House on Tuesday. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas
"At the last election, our Prime Minister spoke about the need to be strong on borders, but not weak on humanity. Regional processing is about both," she said.
"I appreciate there are people in this place that think very differently about this issue. But I would point out that regional processing has been settled policy on both sides of politics for over a decade."
Several crossbenchers, and the newly-influential Greens, have demanded the government scrap offshore detention, with Greens Senator Nick McKim warning Australia had become a "pariah state" over its approach to refugees.
Labor's majority saw it pass the lower house on Tuesday afternoon, and the legislation later sailed through the Senate with backing from the Coalition.
'Nothing has changed'
Hours earlier, Mr Boochani criticised Labor, saying "nothing" has changed for asylum seekers since the party formed government.
The Kurdish-Iranian activist also had a blunt message for Opposition leader Peter Dutton, : you'll never be prime minister.
Addressing supporters and the media at Parliament House on Tuesday, Mr Boochani joined calls for a royal commission i.
The writer pointed to a $420 million to manage Nauru, issued to a United States company accused of human rights abuses, as an avenue for the commission to pursue.
Mr Boochani (centre) was supported by a number of crossbenchers. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas
"Fourteen people have been killed in Manus Island and Nauru, hundreds of people have been damaged."
His intervention bolstered a long-standing push by the Greens for a royal commission, with independent MP Zoe Daniel confirming her support for the idea.
Labor in December promised to end a limbo for 19,000 people currently in Australia, by abolishing temporary protection visas.
Mr Boochani said, while the new government had "shown off" in the media, nothing had fundamentally changed for asylum seekers in Australia since it took office.
Zoe Daniel described the government's approach to asylum seekers as 'very bitsy, very slow'. Source: Twitter / Zoe Daniel
'Very bitsy, very slow'
Ms Daniel, one of a number of crossbench MPs flanking the writer, described the government's approach to asylum seekers as "very bitsy, very slow".
"We were promised that there would be action soon, and here we are in February still waiting ... their lack of commitment to a timeframe is unsatisfactory," she said.
"If myself and others on the crossbench are losing patience with that, I can only imagine how that feels for those who are various forms of temporary visas."
Mr Boochani also urged Labor to back a Greens bill which would offer around 150 people still in Nauru and PNG an immediate evacuation.
"I think it's very important that we call [on] the Labor Party to be brave. The reason I said to be brave is because Labor always has been defensive about refugee policy," he said.
"It's very important that Labor [has] trust in itself do the right thing, which is support this bill [to] try transport people to Australia."
Mr Boochani said Opposition leader Peter Dutton (pictured) will never become prime minister. Source: AAP / AAP
“We have consistently said that we need to be making sure … in Australia, but also in Australian-funded facilities, we are meeting our international obligations,” he said on Tuesday.
“That is very much the commitment from this government going forward.”
Mr Boochani also noted that Mr Dutton, who as home affairs minister was a key champion of Australia's hardline border stance, once claimed the refugee would never enter Australia, even if he was granted asylum in New Zealand.
"He said that I'll never, ever come to Australia. I really would like to say that he [will] never, ever become the Prime Minister of Australia," he said.
Two members of the soon-to-be formed Parliamentary Friends of Refugees group, Ms Daniel and Greens senator Nick McKim, attended the speech. The group's major party representatives, Labor's Kate Thwaites and Liberal Dan Tehan, were not present.
