In an impromptu press conference afterwards, Mr Skerritt said Australia's education system should be opened to the children of asylum seekers being held on Manus Island and Nauru. A pro-refugee advocate heckles Bill Shorten's address in Brisbane. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen He said the children of Vietnamese asylum seekers in the 1970s had benefited the Australian community. "We welcomed people in the 1970s. We can do the same thing, and we can do it now," he said. "I think the idea that of being harsh on refugees is simply a concept about winning votes - but it's not. It's to create division within Australia.

"People on Nauru offer so much to our community. We can all think of refugees who have made a tremendous impact, a positive impact on Australia. Now that's what we are denying Australia." Adrian Skerritt started shouting during Bill Shorten's speech to hundreds of Labor members. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Mr Skerritt said he was not a member of any political party. Mr Skerritt is a former socialist alliance candidate in Queensland state elections and has protested the G20. Heckled: Bill Shorten. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

"There's an idea there that stopping the boats somehow saves lives, it's a lie. What it means is when people die, we don't know about it. "We need to help people who are fleeing war and persecution when they come here. We need to help them, not lock them up in those gulags in the south Pacific," he said. He condemned Labor's position and said the party would get many more votes if it broke with the Coalition and brought asylum seekers to Australia and allowed them to settle in the community. "The Labor Party would get a lot more respect if it had a humane, welcoming policy towards refugees rather than a cruel one, rather than one that is tantamount to racism." Mr Shorten - who faced some division among Labor candidates over the party's asylum seeker policies this week - continued his speech during the protesters, with party supporters cheering and offering a standing ovation.

Mr Shorten later said a Labor government would do nothing to restart the "evil trade" of people smuggling. "We will not reopen the seaway between Java and Christmas Island," he vowed. Mr Shorten said Labor would not allow a renewed set of boat arrivals. "This is an issue which we've seen be a toxic matter in Australian politics for a long time but Labor will stop the people smugglers," he said. "We won't see the criminal gangs of south east Asia put vulnerable people in vessels which sink at sea and exploit their desire to come to Australia.

"We will not reopen the seaway between Java and Christmas Island and my party knows, and every candidate knows, that if we form a government after July 2 we will be resolute against defeating that evil trade. "That should never be used as an excuse to create this problem of indefinite detention, which the Liberals have allowed to fester and grow on their watch." Mr Shorten said Labor would send people arriving on boats to nations in the region for processing. He also defended Labor's candidate in the southeast Melbourne seat of Dunkley, Peta Murphy, who joined a group of lawyers speaking out against enhanced powers for ASIO and police to detain terror suspects without charge. The comments were made in a submission to government in 2009, but attracted media attention this week as Labor candidates are questioned on their support for tough border protection policies.