The successful passage of a Greens' disallowance motion has overturned the government's attempts to scrap a range of essential, affordable family and carer visas.

"The Senate has voted to keep families living together and looking after each other in Australia," the Greens' immigration spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

"The success of this disallowance motion means that thousands of Australian families will have a chance to reunite with relatives from around the world."

Instead of travelling to Phnom Penh this Friday to sign a dirty refugee deal, as confirmed by the Cambodian Government today, the Immigration Minister should instead be focussing on protecting people and caring for those in need, the Australian Greens have said.

"Cambodia doesn't have the capacity to look after these refugees, but the Abbott government simply doesn't care," the Greens' immigration spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

The Australian Greens have urged the Abbott government to respond to the UN's calls for an increased humanitarian effort in the Middle East by announcing an urgent increase in Australia's refugee intake.

"In just the last few days, Turkey has accepted as many refugees as Australia will in the next ten years," the Greens' immigration spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

A government bill in the House of Representatives today, that would see refugees only given protection if they faced more than a 50 per cent chance of torture or death, should not be passed into law the Australian Greens have said.

"This is a reckless, dangerous bill that will put people's lives at risk," the Greens' immigration spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

"It is women fleeing violence and abuse, in particular, who will be put at serious risk if this bill is passed.

"The Abbott government is happy to let people live or die by the flip of a coin."

Spending billions of dollars locking children in offshore detention slums and denying protection to as many refugees as possible is the disastrous legacy of the government's Operation Sovereign Borders, the Australian Greens have said.

"What we've seen from the Abbott government is a year of shocking cruelty," the Greens' immigration spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

"More people are suffering, fewer are being helped, and the Minister is claiming victory.

The Australian Greens have welcomed the announcement that the Norfolk Island Parliament will introduce a marriage equality bill today and have called on the Federal Government not to exercise its veto power over the territory's legislation.

"Norfolk Island has made history today," the Greens' LGBTI spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

"This tiny territory out in the Pacific is now leading the charge towards marriage equality in Australia.

The Australian Greens have said that they will push to have Australia's refugee intake returned to 20,000 places per year when Parliament returns in late September.

"Waging war while refusing to increase our refugee intake is grossly irresponsible," the Greens' immigration spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

"The increasing humanitarian crisis in the Middle East demands a genuine, compassionate response.

The Australian Greens have accused the Immigration Minister of holding children to ransom and attempting to bully the Senate into passing laws that will leave refugees living in limbo because of the government's obsession with cruelty.

"Offshore processing has collapsed and the Greens won't be bullied into backing the government's cruel and punitive Temporary Protection Visas," the Greens' immigration spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

"TPVs are just another measure in the Abbott government's toolbox of cruelty.

Today's admission from the Immigration Minister that he will process the claims of refugees who have arrived in Australia after July 19 2013 is a clear admission that offshore processing has collapsed, the Australian Greens have said.

"Offshore processing is unworkable and, finally, the jig is up," Senator Hanson-Young said.

"Dumping the government's commitment to offshore processing like this is a major policy backflip on the back of a major policy failure.

Following evidence given to the Human Rights Commission inquiry into children in detention today, the Australian Greens have called on all parties to support a bill that would see the Immigration Minister stripped of the guardianship of unaccompanied refugee children.

"The Minister is clearly incapable of acting in these children's best interests," the Greens' immigration spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.