Immigration Minister Chris Bowen says Australia should increase its refugee intake by 50 per cent, the Herald Sun reports.

On ABC Radio, Bowen said he will propose at the Labor Party's national conference this weekend to increase Australia's resettlement of refugees from 13,750 to 20,000, without necessarily putting a timeline on the plan.

Bowen said his proposal would make it clear that Labor's view was to take more refugees.

Bowen's proposal comes after Australian authorities intercepted a boat carrying more than 100 asylum seekers east of Christmas Island on Wednesday.

"I just think it's very important that the Labor platform, which is after all a statement of broad objectives, has that objective in it for the first time," Bowen said, adding that Australia's refugee intake was the highest per person of any country in the world but the government shouldn't stop there.

Addressing the issue of dangerous refugee boats coming to Australia, Bowen said offshore processing of refugees is one of the systems that should be in place to reduce the number of boats heading to Australia for safety.

This developed after Labor abandoned a plan to put its bill to allow offshore processing of asylum seekers in Malaysia to a vote in October after it could not guarantee its passage through Parliament.

"Just increasing your refugee intake is not a deterrent to getting on a boat to come to Australia, but if it is part of a broader mix, which included offshore processing, that would be important," Bowen told ABC.