Both Labor and Liberal parties have failed in asylum seeker policy, and both have pursued unsustainable and wreckless positions. The only way out of the current mess IMO is to reinstate temporary protection visas, so that asylum seekers can be welcomed to Australia and offered temporary safe haven, then when it is safe to return to their homelands, they can return.
This position is the only principled position in this debate. It allows us to tackle the abuse of the concept of "asylum" by the left, who really mean permanent residence for anyone wanting to make their home in Australia. But it also allows to tackle the unprincipled xenophobia on the right, who have shown themselves willing to demonise vulnerable people in the quest for votes.
Asylum seekers are seeking asylum. They are not, ostensibly, seeking permanent residence. If they are found to be genuinely fleeing persectution, then they should be offered asylum until such time as it is safe to return home, then, they should return. A 2 year temporary protection visa, renewable for a further two years if conditions at home are not yet safe, is needed to restore some sanity into this issue!