A PAIR of coalition MPs have defied their party and voted against legislation that effectively excises the Australian mainland from its migration zone.
But the legislation passed the lower house easily, with Labor and the rest of the coalition uniting.
Judi Moylan and Russell Broadbent told parliament they could not support the measure, which implements a recommendation from the Houston report on asylum seeker policy.
"I could choose to be at peace with my party, unified in opposition to this poor excuse for a Labor government, or at peace with my heart for this nation," Mr Broadbent told parliament on Tuesday.
"I choose my heart for this nation."
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said it was important to deter people from taking the dangerous journey by sea to Australia.
Under the bill, anyone arriving irregularly in Australia waters by boat would be subject to regional processing.
It will dissuade people from trying to reach the Australian mainland in a bid to avoid being sent for offshore processing, as would happen if they arrived on Christmas Island or Ashmore Reef.
Mr Bowen said the bill targeted people arriving by boat because they were the ones most at risk.
"Those arriving by plane are not risking their lives to get here," he said.
"The very clear, and universally agreed aim of the policy changes ... is the need to remove the incentive for people to take the dangerous journey by boat."
While the measure was only a marginal one, opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said his party supported it because "it improves things slightly".
Ms Moylan said the measure was "the final legal brick creating fortress Australia" while Mr Broadbent called it "a blight on our national integrity".
Green Adam Bandt and independents Craig Thomson and Andrew Wilkie also opposed the measure.
Mr Bandt said it was distressing to be debating a bill that was so similar to what was attempted under the Howard government.
"We had the opportunity to show we are a good country," he said.
Instead the government was going back to where the right wing of the ALP perhaps wanted it to go - back to Howard, he said.
Mr Thomson was very disappointed that Labor was supporting something it rightly rejected in 2006.
Mr Morrison slammed Labor's hypocrisy in copying that manoeuvre.
"If you vote for this bill today on that side of the house, you are admitting that you are hypocrites and frauds," he told parliament.
Labor backbencher Ed Husic acknowledged that consistency in setting policy was important.
"But consistency that ignores reality and is divorced from reality and circumstance is not a substitute for good policy," he told parliament.
The Migration Amendment (Unauthorised Maritime Arrivals and Other Measures) Bill 2012 will head to the Senate.
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