Malcolm Fraser has accused both sides of federal politics of appealing to a "redneck" minority in the asylum seeker debate.

The former prime minister says the Federal Government has a responsibility towards asylum seekers from Afghanistan because of Australia's military intervention in that country.

Mr Fraser allowed tens of thousands of refugees into Australia after the Vietnam War in the 1970s and says people trying to flee the war in Afghanistan also deserve protection.

He says the current debate over asylum seekers is one of the most terrible in the history of the Parliament, with both the Government and Opposition chasing cheap votes at the expense of the lives of vulnerable people.

"The political leaders seem to have struck into the redneck nerves and the minority of Australians and they're paying for that and ignoring, I think, a huge majority of people that hate what they're doing," he said.

The Government is currently attempting to change the Migration Act in order to put its proposed Malaysian swap deal beyond any further court challenge.

However, the Opposition won't support that bill: though it supports offshore processing, it says asylum seekers should only be sent to countries that have signed the UN Refugee Convention.

Mr Fraser believes the debate has deteriorated since the Howard government turned around the ship, the Tampa, which was carrying asylum seekers in 2001.

He accuses both sides of playing politics ahead of human rights.

"That began a descent into the most terrible debates that have ever occurred in the Australian parliament," he said.

"The great migration of the late 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s - including the migration of people from Indo China after Vietnam - could not have occurred if today's politicians had been in power because during that earlier time, both the Liberal Party and the Labor Party said we are not going to play politics with this issue.

"When I said that we were going to take refugees from Indo China, Gough Whitlam did not oppose it, so the policy was still bipartisan."

Mr Fraser says the influx of people after the Vietnam War has been one of the most important and successful movements of people in the history of Australia.

"There were three years in a row when our humanitarian intake was over 20,000 a year and we were able to accommodate that," he said.

"The Vietnamese communities around Australia have contributed enormously to the richness and culture of this country."

Now, members of the ethnic Hazara group from Afghanistan make up a large number of asylum seekers attempting to reach Australia.

Many travel overland to Pakistan, then fly to Malaysia and Indonesia, where some board boats bound for Australia.

Mr Fraser says just like during the Vietnam War, the US and its allies are training local police and soldiers in Afghanistan, hoping they can hold their ground when foreign troops leave.

He says Australia has an obligation to take care of asylum seekers from the conflict, especially those who have supported Australian troops.

"People who've worked with us under those circumstances will be at particular risk and they're people for whom we would have a very special ethical and moral responsibility," he said.

"In today's Parliament, there'd be very few people who'd respond to that responsibility."

He says his message to members of the Parliament about the debate over asylum seekers is this: "Forget everything you've said for the last six months, for the last two years.

"Wipe the slate clean and start again and try and remember this is meant to be a compassionate, decent society, who have a real concern for people whose lives are at risk."