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The Australian prime minister has said that her government will try to revive a plan to send asylum seekers to Malaysia as part of a refugee-swap deal which was recently rejected by the country's high court.
"Malaysia offered the best answer to the issue of asylum seekers and people smuggling them. It offers the best answer now," Julia Gillard told reporters at Australia's parliament on Monday.
Gillard also said that her minority government would try to amend the country's migration laws to overcome the high court ruling.
Gillard's centre-left Labor Party said the government intended to introduce the amending legislation into parliament next week.
The government was responding to a court ruling on August 31 that thwarted its plan to send asylum seekers to Malaysia in a policy aimed at deterring others from journeying to Australia by boat.
Dropping in polls
The ruling was a blow to the credibility of the Labor Party, which has seen its popularity plunge in opinion polls and has come under further pressure after the court blocked the asylum plan.
Anonymous government sources told newspapers Gillard could soon be overthrown as her party's leader in an internal government coup.
"The idea of replacing her is no longer pie in the sky," an unnamed government minister told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.
The paper cited unnamed senior government figures as saying Gillard had "lost her authority".
However, Gillard told Australian radio on Friday that none of her colleagues had raised with her frustration with her leadership.
"I'm not going anywhere," Gillard said. "I'm the best person to do this job and I'll continue to do it."
Other senior government figures spoke out in support of Gillard on Friday though.
"She's the right person at the right time for this nation," said Bill Shorten, a government minister tipped as a future potential prime minister.
Poor opinion polling prompted Labor parliamentarians to dump Kevin Rudd, the party's former leader, in favour of Gillard in June last year.
But Labor's poll ratings have worsened under Gillard, two years before the next election is due.
Most commentators give Gillard's administration little to no chance of retaining power at the 2013 elections. Instead, most commentators argue that Labor must focus on limiting its losses.
Processing centre
Gillard was re-elected in August last year with a promise to send asylum seekers to a regional processing centre that Australia would build on East Timor.
East Timor did not agree to the plan, so Gillard turned her attention to Malaysia.
Under the deal with Malaysia, Australia agreed to accept 4,000 registered refugees in return for Malaysia processing the refugee applications of 800 asylum seekers.
The government has indicated that Australia will honor the agreement by resettling those refugees over four years.
Authorities expect the court ruling will trigger a surge in asylum seekers leaving Malaysian and Indonesian ports by boat bound for Australia.
The ruling also casts doubt over another proposal to send asylum seekers to a malaria-prone island off Papua New Guinea.
PHOTO CAPTION
A boat carrying asylum-seekers off the northern coast of Australia
Al Jazeera
