The island of Nauru, home to the Australian (asylum seeking) detention centre which was in operation from 2001 to 2007. With the Rudd Government coming into power announced the facility will no longer be used. At the time, the last remaining Burmese and (Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images)

ADELAIDE—Temporary Protection Visas (TPVs) should remain a relic of the former coalition Government, The Greens say.

The party has urged the federal government to reject opposition calls to reinstate TPVs for asylum seekers and wants a complete review of Australia's immigration policies.

TPVs were designed to make permanent status harder for people who arrive by boat.

"Temporary Protection Visas should remain buried as a cruel relic of the former Howard regime," said Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

"Australia was then the only country in the world to have this kind of visa, which was actually in contravention of our international legal obligations to refugees.

"Temporary Protection Visas left genuine refugees living in limbo and fear, while attempting to build a new life after fleeing torture and persecution."

Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull said the Government's asylum seeker policies must be tightened to help deter people smuggling.

He said the Government's relaxed immigration policies had led to the recent influx of unauthorised boat arrivals.

"The reintroduction of Temporary Protection Visas should be high on the agenda," Mr Turnbull told ABC radio on Monday.

But Senator Hanson-Young said while there had been a growth in the number of people seeking asylum around the world, those seeking to come to Australia were still relatively small in number.

"Because we are isolated, because we are further away, because we are surrounded by water, it is harder to get to Australia," she told reporters in Adelaide on Monday.

"That in itself is a deterrent.

"What we do need to do for those people who are prepared to jump on a boat and come to Australia is recognise that those people are in a desperate situation.

"The last thing we should be doing is punishing them because they are victims of persecution, torture and abuse."