AAP
Australia simply cannot afford Labor's increased refugee intake, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says.
Mr Abbott has vowed to reverse Labor's recent decision to increase the annual humanitarian refugee intake from 13,750 to 20,000 if the coalition wins government at next year's election.
The cut would save the federal budget an estimated $1.3 billion over the next four years, he says.
"We can't afford it. It's as simple as that," Mr Abbott told reporters in Melbourne on Friday.
He has previously expressed support for an increase in the intake but now says it should not be expanded while the government cannot afford to pay for it.
The coalition would reserve 11,000 of the 13,750 permanent protection visas on offer each year for those waiting in refugee camps.
No permanent visas would go to people who arrived by boat. These people would instead be issued Temporary Protection Visas.
Mr Abbott has also promised to make asylum seekers released into the community on bridging visas work for their welfare payments, to end the "something-for-nothing mindset".
"If it's right for young Australians to do work for the dole, it's all the more important to have people who have come uninvited to this country pulling their weight," he said.
Bridging visa holders who did not participate in this scheme would be taken back into immigration detention.
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen slammed Mr Abbott's decision to move away from the refugee intake increase, which was a key recommendation of the expert panel on asylum seekers led by former defence chief Angus Houston.
He said the increase was vital to deter people from getting on boats.
"It sends the signal that there's another way, that you don't have to get on a boat to get a chance of a better life in Australia," Mr Bowen told reporters in Sydney.
"That you can, if you're in a refugee situation around the world, apply and there's a path and there's a chance."
The Australian Greens accused Mr Abbott of "flip-flopping" on his support for an increase in the intake.
"He has no idea how to manage this issue," Greens senator Sarah-Hanson Young told reporters in Canberra.
Amnesty International said it was gravely concerned by the coalition's proposal to cut the intake.
Amnesty on Friday also released its briefing on conditions at the government's Nauru detention centre, after making a three-day visit this week.
It described a toxic mix of uncertainty and inhumane conditions, creating an increasingly volatile situation.
"The situation on Nauru is unacceptable," Amnesty's refugee expert Graham Thom said in a statement.
"The unlawful and arbitrary detention of these men in such destitute conditions is cruel, inhuman and degrading."
Mr Abbott's policies are yet to be approved by his party room, but he says he is confident he will win his colleagues' support.
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