Shorten floats offshore processing shift

Bill Shorten has signalled the Labor Party may shift its position on offshore immigration detention at this year's national conference.

The opposition leader said there was no doubt issues around asylum seekers and people smuggling will come up for debate at the July meeting.

Newly-elected Batman MP Ged Kearney is among several Labor figures promising to argue for more "humane" party policies on asylum seekers and offshore processing.

"In terms of the policies that emerge, I make one thing very clear, we don't support the way the government has treated people in detention," Mr Shorten told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.

"We don't believe that mandatory detention has to be the necessary result of stopping the boats."

However, Mr Shorten is not for budging on turning back people-smuggling vessels at sea.

"We recognise the boat turn-back policy has been effective, and I have no interest in changing that policy," he said.