Australia passes law to send boat people offshore

Australia's Parliament passed a law allowing it to transfer asylum - seekers arriving by boat to other countries, despite objections that refugees could be held indefinitely in remote camps.

The Senate, Parliament's Upper House, passed the legislation late Thursday after months of political wrangling, enabling the government to send boat people to Papua

New Guinea and tiny Nauru to have their refugee claims processed. It represents a compromise by the centre - left Labor government, which had previously abandoned offshore processing -- Australian policy under former conservative Prime Minister John Howard.

"I cannot honestly say legislation we consider today sits comfortably in the narrative of the Labor Party, a party based on social justice, compassion and a fair go," Labor Senator Gavin Marshall said. AFP