The Attorney General should urgently revise Australia's mandatory sentencing for people smuggling convictions which fails to punish the real culprits after a Brisbane court today jailed an impoverished Indonesian fisherman for five years, the Australian Greens said.

"Judge Martin said the mandatory sentence did not let the court consider the facts in the case, including that the illiterate Indonesian was exploited by the organisers of people smuggling syndicates," Greens' immigration spokesperson, Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young, said.

The remarks by Teresa Gambaro that migrants, including those on temporary visas, need compulsory training about hygiene are unhelpful, the Australian Greens said today.

"By all means, inform migrants about how they can access services in Australia or how our legal system works," Greens' immigration spokesperson, Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young, said.

"But focusing on body odour is blatant dog whistling from the Coalition.

The Greens are very concerned by revelations in today's Fairfax papers that Serco is using a behaviour management plan for detainees whom the company considers are misbehaving, immigration spokesperson, Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young said.

She said it is also alarming that the Immigration Department denies the document exists.

"I have asked direct questions about these methods in the immigration detention network inquiry and both the department and Serco have denied they are about punishing people," Sen. Hanson-Young said.

The sight of the two big parties exchanging and releasing letters on Tuesday was a performance that gave little hope for a sensible, humane or long-term response to the complex humanitarian issue of asylum seekers.

Australia receives around 2% of asylum applications to industrialised nations - over six months we receive equivalent numbers of unauthorised arrivals that Italy receives in one weekend. Yet political consideration of asylum policy is so warped our leaders were reduced to bickering like note-passing schoolchildren.

The government's disappointing decision to try reopening the Nauru detention centres won't deter people who are determined to keep running until they feel safe, the Australian Greens said today.

"This is a very sad moment for people who wanted their government to stand firm and treat asylum seekers humanely and offer them durable options for safety," Greens' immigration spokesperson, Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young, said today.

"The government says it's trying to deter people from boarding boats, but it's not giving them any other option.

The Gillard government should resist the calls by the Coalition to reinstate the hurtful temporary protection visas which damaged many families during the Howard years, the Greens said today.

"TPVs were a major reason why the numbers of women and children on boats spiked during the Howard years, including on the SIEV X which claimed 353 lives after the government began using Nauru," Greens' immigration spokesperson, Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young, said.

The Australian government should commit to resettling the survivors of the Java boat tragedy once they have found by the UNHCR to be refugees in genuine need of protection, the Greens said today.

"The UNHCR has said they are ready to help in assessing the protection claims of survivors and try finding a safe country for those found to be refugees," Greens' immigration spokesperson, Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young, said today.

"Australia should do what we can to assist them.

The Australian Greens have rejected renewed pushes to expel asylum seekers to Malaysia or Nauru following the Java boat tragedy, and have advocated again for an increase in the humanitarian intake with a direct resettlement programme.

"We need a humanitarian response that deals with the realities of why people flee on leaky vessels and not get sidetracked by discussions of border protection or national security," Greens' immigration spokesperson, Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young, said today.

Audio from Sarah in Adelaide responding to the Java boat tragedy.

The Australian Greens say their hearts go out to the families and friends of those asylum seekers who have drowned off the coast of Java, Indonesia.

"We give our full support to the Australian government and its efforts to assist Indonesian authorities find survivors and recover the missing," Greens' immigration spokesperson, Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young, said today.

"This is a humanitarian issue which today is about a humanitarian response, not one of border protection.

"This is an awful tragedy and all involved should be given the time to mourn."