Australia forced into onshore refugee processing

Australia was Thursday forced to abandon plans to process asylum-seekers offshore after opposition lawmakers refused to back legal changes designed to revive the government's Malaysia refugee swap deal. Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the political deadlock that followed the embarrassing strike-down of the so-called Malaysia solution in the High Court in August meant offshore processing was now impossible. "It's clear that the migration law of this country will not be amended, and as a result the government is not in a position now... to have asylum-seekers processed in third countries," Gillard told reporters.