THE Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen, will propose an almost doubling of Australia's refugee intake in a bid to win support at this weekend's ALP national conference for his controversial Malaysian people-swap agreement to deter boat arrivals.

Mr Bowen will present a new ''soft-heart, hard-head'' platform that backs returning boat arrivals to transit countries under regional agreements, but increases Australia's resettlement target from 13,750 to 20,000.

"We have the Malaysia arrangement ready to go" ... Chris Bowen, right. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

In an exclusive interview with the Herald, Mr Bowen said last night he was ''hoping for, and expecting'' the support of the conference and signalled that the people-swap legislation was likely to return to the Parliament next year.

Mr Bowen last night briefed members of the party's Left on the draft platform. The Left has vowed to oppose the Malaysian agreement and will try to commit Labor to onshore processing of asylum seekers.