Labor leader Bill Shorten has described the government's move to ban asylum seekers from ever setting foot on Australian soil as "ridiculous" and "ludicrous"- but didn't rule out his party supporting it.
"This latest proposal from Mr Turnbull is just ludicrous on face value," he told the ABC on Sunday.
"On its face, the idea you will deter people smugglers by saying a genuine refugee who becomes a citizen of another country couldn't visit Australia in 2056 - it's just ridiculous, Barrie."
Under the new laws, any person who tried to get to Australia by boat and was resettled in another country after mid-July 2013 would never be allowed to visit Australia.
“The door to Australia is closed to those who seek to come here by boat with a people smuggler,” prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Monday. “It is closed.”
Shorten says he agrees with the Coalition that people who come to Australia by paying people smugglers shouldn't be allowed to settle here permanently, but that his "instinct" is to question the government's motives for the proposed law, which would ban refugees from travelling to Australia on business or tourist visas.
"It doesn't seem to make any sense to say that someone who is found to be a genuine refugee, who then becomes a Canadian or American citizen, couldn't visit Australia in 40 years' time as a tourist or teacher."
"That's over the top. It is a distraction from the real problems."
But he refused to say Labor would block the tough new measures.
Shorten says Labor only received the draft legislation on Friday, meaning caucus won’t have an opportunity to consider the plan and decide Labor’s position until parliament resumes next week.
He's accused the government of purposely delayed Labor access to the draft legislation, despite announcing the lifetime ban to the media a week ago.
"We received the legislation late Friday afternoon, in classic Turnbull government style," he said.
Immigration minister Peter Dutton says the new laws would pave the way for so-called “third country resettlement” deals.
“What we don’t want is if somebody is to go to a third country, that they apply for a tourist visa or some other way to circumvent what the government’s policy is by coming back to Australia from that third country.”
The opposition leader says he wants the government to prioritise negotiating settlement agreements for the more than 1,300 people living in detention on Manus Island and Nauru.