http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-30340579
4 December 2014 Last updated at 23:01
Australian senate backs migrant reforms
Thousands of asylum seekers have risked the perilous sea journey to Australia
The Australian senate has narrowly approved changes to migration laws that include reintroducing controversial temporary visas for refugees.
The bill will allow refugees to live and work in Australia for three to five years.
It was passed by 34 votes to 32 after intense and sometimes emotional debate in a late-night sitting.
Australia currently detains refugees caught arriving by boat and puts them in camps in Papua New Guinea and Nauru.
The bill is expected to become law later on Friday when it is passed by the House of Representatives where the government has a majority.
Some 30,000 asylum seekers have tried to reach Australia by boat since August 2012, but they have yet to have their claims assessed because the government does not want them to stay permanently.
They live in detention camps or in the community under bridging visas that do not allow them to work.
Under the new law, thousands of the refugees - including hundreds of children - will be able to leave the detention centres and live for at least three years in Australia.
They will have work rights and could eventually apply for skilled or other migrant visas.
Refugees are kept in detention centres waiting for their claims to be assessed
However, if they do not secure a permanent visa they could be deported to their country of origin.
Temporary visas were originally introduced under former Prime Minister John Howard but were criticised by rights groups and the UN for failing to meet Australia's obligations as a signatory to the UN Refugee Conventions.
The government won the senate vote with the support of the Palmer United Party (PUP) which had negotiated several changes, including a provision that children should be released from a detention centre on Christmas Island.
Party leader Clive Palmer called the system the best option available.
"It's all very well for people to shake their head, but they're not locked up on Christmas Island," he told reporters. "Their children are not missing out on a decent Christmas dinner."
Opposition leaders had accused the government of using asylum seekers as political pawns.
Speaking before the senate vote, senior Labor figure Tony Burke said Immigration Minister Scott Morrison was "effectively wanting to use people as hostages".
"He could have started processing [asylum seekers]. He chose to not do the processing, and is now saying unless we vote for his measures, then he'll continue to keep people in detention," he told ABC Radio.
However Mr Morrison said the government's offer provided a route out of the current political impasse.
- Asylum seekers - mainly from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Iraq and Iran - travel to Australia's Christmas Island by boat from Indonesia
- The number of boats rose sharply in 2012 and early 2013. Scores of people have died making the journey
- To stop the influx, the government has adopted hard-line measures intended as a deterrent
- Everyone who arrives is detained. Under a new policy, they are processed in Nauru and Papua New Guinea. Those found to be refugees will be resettled in PNG, Nauru or Cambodia
- Tony Abbot's government has also adopted a policy of tow-backs, or turning boats around
- Rights groups and the UN have voiced serious concerns about the policies and conditions in the detention camps. They accuse Australia of shirking international obligations.
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