Shorten wants Labor boat turn back policy

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten believes Labor should turn back asylum seeker boats, admitting his party made mistakes on immigration policy when in government.

Mr Shorten said the option to turn back vessels carrying asylum seekers must be on the table to prevent drownings at sea and defeat people smugglers.

The Labor leader has so far remained on the fence on turn backs, an issue which has divided his party.

While revealing his new position, Mr Shorten admitted Labor made errors on asylum-seeker policy when in government and conceded the coalition's policy appeared to be working.

"I think it's clear that the combination of regional resettlement, with offshore processing, and also the turn back policy, is defeating people smugglers," he told ABC television on Wednesday.

"It's not easy, though, because it involves the admission, I think, that mistakes were made when Labor was last in government."

He said turning back boats wasn't an easy issue for Labor because the party was also committed to the humane treatment of refugees.

A potential turn back policy will be debated at the ALP national conference later this week and Mr Shorten hopes his colleagues will back his new position.

"I'm not the sort of person who gives up and I hope people will work and understand why we're saying what we're saying," he said.

Mr Shorten also believes Australia could "probably" increase its refugee quota.

"Australia should do its fair share and that's why we're prepared to consider things which previously we might not," he said.

Former immigration minister Scott Morrison - who now looks after social services - said Labor was "all talk on turn backs".

"The coalition's record on border protection and turn backs is proven. The people smugglers know it," he said on Twitter on Wednesday night.

Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said Labor's "capitulation" to Prime Minister Tony Abbott would not end well.

"Boat turn backs are all about pushing refugees away, to let them die in someone else's waters," she wrote on Twitter.