Offshore processing can't work alone: govt The government has urged the opposition to help resurrect the refugee swap deal with Malaysia. IMMIGRATION Minister Brendan O'Connor has again urged the opposition to help resurrect the refugee swap deal with Malaysia, saying it will act as a "significant deterrence" against dangerous boat journeys. The deal, which would have seen 800 asylum seekers sent to Malaysia for processing in exchange for 4000 processed refugees, was in 2011 ruled unlawful by the High Court. The government has since been urging the coalition and the Greens to support changing legislation to allow the arrangement to go ahead. Mr O'Connor says not having the Malaysia deal as an option had resulted in "significant challenges" for the government in managing asylum seeker policies. He acknowledged offshore processing, reinstated by the Gillard government in August 2012, couldn't work alone in stopping the boats. "The fact is we need to ensure that all of the recommendations that were outlined by the Houston report are realised," he told Sky News on Sunday, alluding to the Malaysia deal. We believe that the Malaysian arrangement will have a significant deterrence. The Houston panel said the Malaysia people swap deal would be an important part of managing boat arrivals but called for legally binding guarantees from Malaysia to protect the human rights of asylum seekers. More than 16,000 would-be refugees have arrived since Labor reintroduced offshore processing in August last year. The opposition's border protection spokesman Michael Keenan said a coalition government would be able to stop the boats by returning to Howard-era policies such as temporary protection visas and turning boats around. "If we show the resolve to fully implement those policies, then we will send the message to people smugglers that we are now deadly serious about stopping them," he told ABC TV.