Coalition's Nauru extension has merit: Burke Sparks fly over asylum blame game Does Tony Abbott help people smugglers every time he attacks the government's PNG asylum policy? Furious Coalition MP labels the suggestion 'deeply offensive'. Thousands of asylum seekers will be housed on Nauru in a tent city for up to five years under a Coalition government, as a cheap alternative to the Labor government's proposed Manus Island resettlement program. At least 2000 people would be sent to a new camp to be built by the Coalition if it wins government, but thousands more would be located elsewhere, with no guarantee of final settlement in Australia, News Ltd newspapers reported on Tuesday, in a plan that Immigration Minister Tony Burke said had "merit." The news comes as the Labor government prepares to send about 40 single men from Christmas Island to Manus Island as soon as Tuesday night. They are among the first people to arrive in Australian waters since Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced his Manus Island proposal on July 19. Coalition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said on Monday during a tour of potential sites on Nauru that the island could take about 5000 asylum-seekers over time, in tents and other permanent facilities, the paper said. Mr Morrison said some asylum-seekers may end up in Australia, but with "no guarantee," many could be resettled in countries such as Canada or New Zealand. "Nauru has always been the Coalition's preferred and first site for offshore processing," he said. We will use whatever additional capacity is created by PNG obviously, but Nauru still remains our plan A when it comes to offshore processing. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said that if the Coalition won the election, it wanted to get proper offshore processing up and running quickly. "If we win the election, we want to be able to hit the ground running," he told Channel Seven. When asked if he had consulted with the region, he said: "We don't need to tell them that we're doing anything different, because it's not different," he said. The Opposition Leader also said that in time, better facilities would replace the tents. "I've been to Nauru," Mr Abbott said. Nauru is by no means an unpleasant place to live. According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, Nauru is "one of the world's smallest independent, democratic states." DFAT also says that Nauru's economy faces "significant constraints" that are common to other island atoll states. "These include its small size, remoteness, a harsh natural environment with infertile soils, limited exploitable resources and the need to create jobs and promote growth for an expanding population," it said. Immigration Minister Tony Burke said there was some "merit" in the Coalition's Nauru announcement, but said it could only complement, not replace, the PNG strategy. "I think it's important that we don't get into a political game where each side of politics is just dismissing the other's ideas out of hand," he told Fairfax Radio. Mr Burke said that he had had "similar conversations" with the Nauru government when he visited the country last week, about increasing capacity on the Island. But the Immigration Minister said that he thought the Coalition had rushed some aspects of their policy. He said that it was "unwise" to refer to a limit of 2000 asylum seekers in the tent city as he did not believe there was a limit "of that nature." Mr Burke added that the government should never propose a limit to people smugglers, as they would try to overwhelm it. Mr Burke also criticised the Coalition for leaving open the possibility of settlement in Australia, saying Labor's policy - that if you arrive by boat you will not be resettled in Australia - was clearer. The Labor government reopened processing on Nauru in 2012. Earlier this month, there was a riot in the processing centre, where buildings were damaged. Last week, Australian staff from the Nauru detention centre spoke out about the "cruel and degrading policy" that asylum seekers were subject to on the island. Thirty-two current and former Salvation Army staff - who spoke out despite facing lawsuits and court action - released a joint letter to the media saying the riot "although shocking, was . . . inevitable." AAP with Judith Ireland