Australia is considering softening its opposition to the Assad regime in Syria, with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop saying a political solution needs to be found to solve the country's deadly conflict.

Ms Bishop is currently at the United Nations in New York and hinted at the major policy shift.

"The fear that a number of countries have is that if the Assad regime were either removed or collapsed, it would create a vacuum, and one might find that it was filled by an even more diabolical presence than the Assad regime," she said.

"I don't for a moment shy away from the comments that we have made in the past about the illegitimacy of the regime.

"President Assad unleashed chemical weapons on his own people, and the death and destruction in Syria is appalling and at unprecedented levels.

"The humanitarian crisis is creating an issue throughout the Middle East and Europe, the likes of which we've not seen before.

"The Assad regime has been diabolically bad for Syria, however we're dealing with reality and the fact is we need a political solution because a military solution will not be the only answer."

Sorry, this video has expired Australia considers changing position on Assad regime: Julie Bishop

Russia's increased military involvement in the Syrian crisis could be the catalyst for reinvigorating the search for a political solution.

"The reality is president Assad is still in Syria, the reality is Russia is backing President Assad," Ms Bishop said.

Ms Bishop said it was a matter she had been discussing with her counterparts in the United States for some time.

"We must find a creative way of trying to bring some kind of peace and security and unity to Syria. Australia's view is that all options should be considered," she said.

"Russia's involvement [in negotiations with Iran over their nuclear program] has been said to be very positive by all of those negotiating that agreement.

"If we use that as an example of Russia's preparedness to be part of a solution rather than part of the problem, then we can have some optimism that Russia's involvement is positive.

"I would not like to think that Russia's involvement was purely for its own self interest."

Australia should not pick winners: Shorten

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has expressed reservations about the softening of the Government's stance.

"Labor has no time for the administration or the government of Assad, it has been a terrible government and it's done terrible things to its population," Mr Shorten said.

"I do not believe Australia should be picking sides in Syria, as far as I can tell, between [Islamic State] and Assad, there's not a great deal to separate them.

"There's a whole lot of people in that part of the world, [IS] and the other terrorist groups, which are genocidal, ethno-fascists for want of another word - they are dreadful people.

"I'm very wary about Australia trying to pick winners.

"What we'll do is hear what the logic is, hear what the intelligence is from European and American allies, but we are very cautious about trying to engage in some sort of moral debate about the benefits of any particular side."