UPDATE: THE Abbott Government has ridiculed Labor’s proposal to turn back asylum seeker boats, saying it will not deter people-smugglers.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said Opposition leader Bill Shorten and Labor’s Immigration spokesman Richard Marles were contradicting each other on whether Labor would turn back asylum seeker boats.

ANALYSIS: BOAT MOVE WILL TEST LABOR

MARLES: WHY WE WILL TURN THEM BACK

“So the fact this policy hasn’t survived from last night to this morning is a real concern because the people smugglers will believe that they are back in business if Labor is elected at the next election,’’ he said.

“The point that I would make is that the last time a Labor leader said that they would introduce turn backs was in 2007 with Kevin Rudd and 50,000 people arrived into our country on 800 boats and 1,200 drowned at sea,’’ he told Channel 9.

“I’m worried that the people smugglers are hearing sweet music at the moment when Bill Shorten speaks because they know that he is not convinced.’’

Labor’s Left Caucus is meeting today to finalise their position ahead of tomorrow’s Labor national conference, but it is expected they will introduce an amendment seeking to specifically rule out turnbacks.

The policy is facing savage criticism from refugee groups, with the Refugee Council of Australia accusing Mr Shorten of “pandering to the politics of fear”.

The United Nations refugee agency is also unimpressed saying asylum seekers must be properly and individually screened.

Labor critics include former Speaker Anna Burke, who said this week: “Labor should in no way support turning back asylum seeker boats.’’

Today, she said that she was disappointed with the plan.

“I don’t think that saying ‘I oppose boat turn-backs’ is giving a (green) light to people smugglers,” she told ABC Radio.

“(John) Howard created political footballs out of human lives and we have to get above that.”

The new policy looks likely to be put to a vote at the conference.

But the votes from Labor’s Left and Right are virtually even, so it is a vote that Mr Shorten could lose — and along with it, his authority.

Labor’s Left faction will meet at midday today to sign off on its conference positions.

Is this policy a winner or loser for Labor? Have your say in the comment section below

It is likely to agree to seek to amend Labor’s policy platform to specifically rule out turn-backs.

Labor’s decision to match the Coalition policy of turn-backs is an acknowledgment of the success of the hardline Operation Sovereign Borders, which was implemented by the Abbott Government after it was elected in 2013, and which stopped the flow of boats almost entirely.

Writing for the Herald Sun, Mr Marles made it clear Labor had abandoned the failed policies of the Gillard and Rudd years, which saw 50,000 asylum seekers arrive in Australia by boat, and another 1200 die at sea.

“Despite best intentions, a terrible loss of life took place on Labor’s watch. We did not get it right then but we are very clear now about making sure we don’t repeat those mistakes.

“Offshore processing and regional resettlement, together with the Coalition’s policy of turn-backs, is what actually stopped the boats. I believe, provided it can be done safely, a future Labor government must have the option to undertake turn-backs.’’

Heraldsun.com.au revealed the policy backflip at 5.46pm yesterday.

media_camera The decision is likely to expose divisions within Labor. Picture: Stephen Cooper

While former prime minister Kevin Rudd said days before the 2007 election that he supported turn-backs, it has never been Labor policy.

Mr Marles’ intervention is likely to see a heated debate at Saturday’s conference.

The United Nations refugee agency said today boat turn-backs were “contrary to the spirit” of the 1951 refugee convention and set a negative precedent for other countries.

It said refugees must be properly screened.

“Anything short of such a screening, referral and assessment may risk putting already vulnerable individuals at grave risk of danger,” a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Canberra-based spokesman said in a statement.

The Refugee Council of Australia today accused Mr Shorten of “pandering to the politics of fear”.

Labor for Refugees national convener Robin Rothfield last night told the Herald Sun he was “deeply disappointed’’ by Mr Shorten’s decision.

He said an amendment to the policy platform that “specifically rejects turn-backs” was being drafted.

Victorian MP Andrew Giles, a delegate and national Left convener, said he would not support turn-backs.

“I think there is concern about conformity with international law, and managing our relationship with Indonesia,’’ Mr Giles said.

He also said it was a policy area where “people with a shared objective” could respectfully disagree.

media_camera Bill Shorten with immigration spokesman Richard Marles.

In his opinion piece for the Herald Sun, Mr Marles acknowledged Labor’s troubled history with asylum-seeker policies.

“We won’t allow people smugglers to reopen the perilous journey from Java to Australia again,’’ he writes.

“Were a future Labor Government to allow this journey to start again in earnest, and put people smugglers back in business, the consequence would be a huge loss of life on our borders again. Given what we now know, we would be rightly condemned.’’

Mr Marles writes that Labor was standing firm on offshore processing, which was abandoned by Labor when it came to office but reinstated in the final months of the second Rudd prime ministership.

The 2000 asylum-seekers currently on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and on Nauru would not be settled in Australia under a Labor government.

But Labor is likely to include an increase in Australia’s refuge intake to 27,000 a year, and greater transparency.

MARLES: WHY WE WILL TURN THEM BACK

ANALYSIS: BOAT MOVE WILL TEST LABOR