New visas bypass Senate decision: Labor

The Abbott government is trying to bypass the Senate decision which vetoed temporary protection visas for asylum seekers, Labor says.

The government is reportedly using what are known as temporary humanitarian concern visas, which prevents asylum seekers from gaining permanent residency.

The move comes after Labor and the Greens teamed up in the Senate to veto the government's controversial temporary protection visas in December last year.

Because TPVs were implemented by regulation, the opposition and Greens were able to use their majority in the upper house to pass a motion of disallowance.

Opposition immigration spokesman Richard Marles says Labor is now considering its position and will be consulting other parties in the Senate.

The visa system dusted off by Immigration Minister Scott Morrison had not been used for a long time, he said.

"It was conceived for a very specific purpose and it is now being used specifically to, in effect, get around a decision Australia's Senate made," he told reporters.

"That is of deep concern to me."

Greens MP Adam Bandt said the government was committed to cruelty and would stop at nothing to persecute vulnerable people for electoral advantage.

"The Tony Abbott government continues to find new and ingenious ways to wreck people's lives," he said.