Prime Minister Scott Morrison has made asylum seeker policy a new front in the election campaign going on the attack against Labor’s plan to abolish temporary protection visas.
Mr Morrison on Monday singled out the policy as he criticised the Opposition's approach to border security in an attempt to place the issue at the forefront of the campaign.
Labor has long opposed temporary protection visas aimed at denying permanent resettlement - claiming they are an expensive, bureaucratic and unnecessary process.
The visas have a complex history in Australia - reintroduced by the Coalition in late 2013 - after being abolished by then Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd in 2008.
Mr Morrison said Labor’s commitment to once again remove temporary protection visas if elected, showed they had learned “nothing when it comes to border protection”.
“In August of 2008, Kevin Rudd abolished temporary protection visas,” he told reporters at a press conference in Perth.
“That was the green light to Labor’s border protection failures. You want to date it - that was the day.”
Mr Albanese on Sunday repeated his party’s position on the visas but caused some confusion after he initially misheard a question and indicated he supported their use.
A short time later, the Labor leader clarified his party's stance on the visas for asylum seekers, saying he didn't support them.
“Labor’s policy is to support Operation Sovereign Borders,” he said.
“We support offshore processing, we support resettlement in third countries, we don’t support temporary protection visas."
But his comments have since been seized on by Mr Morrison in an attempt to portray a distinction in their policy approach.
“I am amazed that after all of this time, Anthony Albanese is saying that he would abolish temporary protection visas if he were to become Prime Minister,” he said.
“After all of this time, Labor have learned nothing when it comes to border protection.”
Temporary protection visas are issued to asylum seekers who arrive in Australia without a visa and allows them to have work and study rights, and access to Centrelink.
The visas have historically been directed towards refugees who arrived by boat before July 2013, and who had not had their application finalised.
They allow people to stay for an initial three years but have long been criticised by advocates for creating uncertainty for refugees fleeing persecution, and also preventing family reunions.
Asylum seekers can also gain access to a so-called Safe Haven Enterprise Visa, providing people protection for up to five years, if they work or study in regional Australia.
But Labor says the people - already living in the community and paying taxes - should instead be transitioned onto permanent visa options.
Refugee Council of Australia CEO Paul Power said some 18,000 temporary visa holders in Australia had been left “permanently in limbo” because of the visa conditions.
“It’s pretty clear that this is electioneering at its worst,” he told SBS News.
“Behind the government’s temporary protection visa policy are many human and family tragedies of people who have been separated from their spouses and children.”
He said there was “no evidence” that the policy acted as a deterrent to preventing people from seeking asylum in Australia through avenues considered illegal by the government.
He also said asylum seekers were required to reapply to renew their visas subjecting them to a complex process to have their refugee status reconfirmed.
“They are all living under a cloud, concerned that when their temporary protection visa runs out they may actually have their application for further protection rejected,” he said.
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre CEO Kon Karapanagiotidis added that temporary protection visa holders attempting to transition onto permanent visas continued to face obstruction by the federal government, even after moving to regional areas.
“There is no evidence that this policy does anything except hurt families,” he told SBS News.
“All it’s there for is to win votes [and] whip up fear - I’ve had enough and I think most Australians have had enough.”
Australia’s border protection model adopted in UK
Mr Morrison has praised his government’s approach to border security indicating that “other countries are taking their lead from Australia’s successful approach.”
“We established operation sovereign borders and it has been one of the most successful border protection policies anywhere in the world,” he said.
The hard-line border policy known as Operation Sovereign Borders began under the Abbott government in 2013.
It involves naval vessels turning back unauthorised boat arrivals and is aimed at stopping people smugglers from transporting asylum seekers to Australia.
The policy has been combined with the use of offshore processing at facilities on Nauru and Manus Island in northern Papua New Guinea.
The Coalition has repeatedly said the policy brought an end to an estimated 12,000 deaths at sea from 2007 to 2013, when the previous Labor government was in power.
Britain has now adopted a similar controversial model intending to send asylum seekers to the East African country of Rwanda in an attempt to break people smuggling networks.
Anyone who has arrived in Britain illegally since 1 January could now be relocated to Rwanda.
The migrants would be housed temporarily in facilities, generally hostels or hotels, while their asylum claims are reviewed.
But the Archbishop of Canterbury has condemned the plan to send tens of thousands of asylum seekers to Rwanda, saying the policy did not withstand "the judgement of God".
Delivering a sermon on Easter Sunday at Canterbury Cathedral, Justin Welby said the strategy posed "serious ethical questions".
