MELBOURNE: The Australian government is prepared to reopen the Nauru asylum seeker processing centre but insists it will still pursue its people swap deal with Malaysia.
It said the Nauru option was on the table if the opposition agreed to pass the government's amendment to the Migration Act without changes.
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said the government's people swap deal with Malaysia remained but was willing to compromise with the opposition on other offshore processing centres.
The Gillard government had been adamant it would not reopen the Nauru centre that it closed after taking power in 2007.
But Bowen said yesterday that the impasse over offshore processing had gone on for too long, and it was clear opposition leader Tony Abbott did not want to work out a deal with the government.
Acting Prime Minister Wayne Swan will write to Abbott with a formal proposal to end the deadlock, the Australian Associated Press said.
The plan has been developed in consultation with Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who is on holiday, and the cabinet.
"The opposition needs to support without amendment the government's legislation to allow the government of the day to implement its policies ... to implement offshore processing," Bowen told reporters in Newcastle.
"The government will continue to implement its agreement with the Malaysian government if that legislation is passed, which would break the people smugglers' business model.
"As a complement to the Malaysia agreement, we are happy to engage with the government of Nauru to see if a processing centre can be developed on Nauru."
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