The ALP National Left has slammed Julia Gillard’s decision to allow immigration minister Chris Bowen carte blanche to decide the offshore processing fate of asylum seekers.

This morning the Labor leadership steered through Caucus the restoration of offshore processing with strong support from the NSW Right and Gillard’s own supporters on the party’s Left.

During the caucus meeting a motion put by outspoken national Left convener Doug Cameron and seconded by Victorian Senator Gavin Marshall called on the government to reject the ploy to sidestep the High Court and instead reinstate onshore processing — the option preferred by the majority of the Australian population according to polling today and stipulated in the ALP’s national platform.

“The first time someone is caned or beaten by Malaysian authorities, or beaten by Malaysian vigilantes, or dies because of substandard medical treatment, the government and the party will be vilified by the same people we’re trying to appease,” Marshall told the caucus meeting.

Twenty-one MPs spoke on the debate which has cleaved the party between the Right and a divided Left.

A number of Left faction MPs have sought to have the government reconsider offshore processing in the light of the High Court decision knocking out the Malaysian solution, in effect revising Caucus’ previous sign-off on the issue earlier in the year.

According to several sources, party veteran John Faulkner spoke critically of the proposed amendments, noting they contradicted the Labor Party’s platform, to which Broadband Minister Stephen Conroy responded, arguing there was no contradiction.

Gillard later denied that Faulkner had made the intervention, at a press conference following the lengthy meeting.

Crikey understands NSW Labor Right MPs backed the prime minister strongly, as did staunch PM supporters Simon Crean, Brendan O’Connor and Warren Snowdon.

Caucus was not presented with legislative amendments to the Migration Act to enable the restoration of offshore processing — Bowen later stated there was a variety of legal opinions suggesting that offshore processing anywhere but New Zealand was now in doubt — or to address the issue of unaccompanied minors. Bowen also pointed out the High Court’s ruling on unaccompanied minors applies not merely to successful asylum seeker applicants but to failed ones as well.

The legislation is due to be introduced into parliament next week and will have to be presented to the Caucus sub-committee covering immigration issues, and then formally approved by Caucus next week.

Cameron detailed the Left’s counter proposal on Fran Kelly’s Radio National Breakfast program this morning to honour the national platform. It “allows for onshore processing, that asylum seekers should be treated with dignity, that they should not be dehumanised and that there should be no vilification of asylum seekers and that asylum seekers have got a perfect right to seek asylum in Australia … and that’s whether they come by boat or by plane …”

“I think this offshore processing where we’ll see people being queued up and forced on planes, maybe children I don’t think that does Australia any good anywhere,” he said.

Opposition Immigration spokesman Scott Morrison told AAP the Coalition backed offshore processing, but not the “dumping” option represented by Malaysia.

“The government appears to have come back to this Parliament today not having addressed the flaws in its policy…we are not going to give the Government a blank cheque,” he said.