THERE will be more deaths at sea without a comprehensive regional approach to processing asylum seekers, a leading refugee advocate says.
Paris Aristotle, a member of former defence chief Angus Houston's asylum review panel, is calling for the group's entire suite of 22 recommendations to be implemented in the wake of a fatal boat capsize near Christmas Island on Monday.
"It is absolutely certain that there will be more deaths to come if we don't get on with building a proper regional arrangement for dealing with this issue," he told ABC radio on Wednesday.
"There is no doubt there will be more tragedies."
Mr Aristotle cited an incident a week-and-a-half ago when a capsized boat in the middle of the ocean was fortuitously spotted by plane.
There was a rescue boat nearby and the 60 people clinging to the hull were rescued.
"We could have lost another 60 in that incident as well," Mr Aristotle said, adding there were reports "all the time" of boats going missing.
He praised the immigration department for doing "some extraordinary work" in filling 20,000 humanitarian places, saying the results would be seen in coming months.
But he warned asylum seekers would keep coming by boat while some of the Houston review's recommendations remain to be implemented.
The Malaysia people-swap deal, which parliament won't approve, was a critical component, Mr Aristotle said.
But he conceded more work was needed to resolve issues, such as arrangements for unattached minors.
"If we could make that arrangement work well, then you could negotiate with them (Malaysia) about expanding it and if that worked well you could negotiate with countries like Indonesia," he said.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said this meant Mr Aristotle and the other expert panel members had come to the conclusion the Malaysia people swap plan was "unsatisfactory as it stands".
"We've seen no effort by the government to change or improve the Malaysian people swap deal," he told reporters in Melbourne.
Mr Abbott said when Prime Minister Julia Gillard referred to the coalition's response to the plan she was "finding yet another excuse to do nothing".
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