The federal opposition has seized on a media report that thousands of asylum seekers are ditching their passports before they get to Australia, saying the government needs to get tough with those not carrying documentation.
Almost all asylum seekers who flew to Indonesia on a passport and subsequently arrived in Australia by boat between July 2010 and October last year did not have any paperwork, The Australian reported on Monday.
"What we know is that 3200 people out of 3237 travelled with identity documents to Indonesia and then destroyed them en route to Australia," Liberal backbencher Steve Ciobo told Sky News on Monday.
The opposition wants to reverse the presumption that people seeking asylum should be granted refugee status if they don't have proper documentation.
Mr Ciobo said since Labor changed Australia's border protection laws in 2008, people had a better chance of being considered genuine refugees if they destroyed their paperwork.
"Our starting point is to say if they've destroyed their documents, then we think there should be a presumption that it's going to be more difficult for them to achieve refugee status," he said.
"What we are saying is that people who are genuine refugees ... should be coming with their identity documents because that gives them maximum opportunity to demonstrate their bona fides."
Mr Ciobo said under the coalition's proposal, if people did not have a passport, they would not be deported automatically.
Rather, the immigration department would undertake a review and the spy agency ASIO would conduct security checks - as happens now.
Labor parliamentary secretary David Bradbury said that was the problem with the coalition's policy.
It would be incredibly difficult to enforce because some asylum seekers legitimately had lost their passports, he told Sky News.
"How do you know who has discarded their documentation?"
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