Labor caucus unanimously voted on Tuesday morning to oppose the stronger refugee rules.



Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen told the ABC the government held a briefing with Labor on Monday that "did not meet our concerns".

Bowen joined his leader's criticism of the lifetime ban describing it as "silly".

“On its face, the idea you will deter people smugglers by saying a genuine refugee who becomes a citizen of another country couldn’t visit Australia in 2056 - it’s just ridiculous," opposition leader Bill Shorten said on Sunday.

Under the new laws, any person who tried to get to Australia by boat and was resettled in another country after mid-July 2013 would never be allowed to visit Australia.

Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull accused Shorten of “pandering to the left” of the party who have “always hated the Coalition” especially “John Howard’s border protection policy”.

"You know, if you unpick a policy that works, if you undermine a policy that works, and you, as an inevitable consequence of that, get tens of thousands unauthorised arrivals and more than a thousand deaths at sea, surely you must take responsibility and Labor must do that, and Shorten has got to stop trying to walk both sides of the street," he said.

"He either stands up for strong border protection, stands up for the foundation of the most successful multicultural society in the world, stands up for the foundation of one of the most generous humanitarian programs in the world, or not."



Shorten told ABC TV on Sunday he agrees with the Coalition that people who come to Australia by paying people smugglers shouldn’t be allowed to settle here permanently, but that his “instinct” is to question the government’s motives for the proposed law, which would ban refugees from travelling to Australia on business or tourist visas.

“It doesn’t seem to make any sense to say that someone who is found to be a genuine refugee, who then becomes a Canadian or American citizen, couldn’t visit Australia in 40 years’ time as a tourist or teacher.”



“That’s over the top. It is a distraction from the real problems.”

But Turnbull says that isn't the case. Instead, the immigration minister would have the discretion under the Migration Act to issue anyone who falls under the ban with a business or travel visa to Australia.

"So let's say in 40 years' time, I think Bill Shorten said, 'What if somebody is a citizen of Canada and has won a Nobel Prize and wants to visit Australia?'."

"Well, no doubt the minister of the day will look at that case on its merits and grant the Nobel Prize winner a visa."

While Labor won't support the bill, the opposition leader has called on the government to prioritise negotiating third country resettlement agreements for the more than 1,300 people living in detention on Manus Island and Nauru.