Ms Moylan, who retires at the next election, railed at the language. ''We should not talk about queue jumpers, we should certainly not talk about illegals, we should not pretend these people are idle,'' she said. ''They want to work and be part of our society. We just seem to spin rubbish rhetoric and get people whipped up over it.

''I think this overblown rhetoric has to stop and it is up to the public to say it has to stop, because this is not a political game, it's people's lives we are talking about.

''I think there is likely to be a backlash from the community, just like there was in the Howard years, when people realise what is going on, what we are doing to women and children.

''We can't think this will go away just with 'sloganeering', there is no quick slogan that can fix this, it is not about turning back boats, it is not about punishing people.''

Mr Abbott agreed to support a 20,000-place intake during parliamentary negotiations in June. He also offered a 20,000-place intake in negotiations with the independent Andrew Wilkie after the 2010 election and Mr Wilkie was cynical about the latest reversal.