Former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser is supporting Sarah Hanson-Young's re-election to the Senate but says reports he is campaigning for the Greens are incorrect.
Fraser is holding a public forum focusing on refugee policy and the need for decency in politics with the Greens senator on Saturday in Adelaide as part of her senate re-election campaign.
It will be the only event Fraser does with Hanson-Young in the lead-up to the election and he said he decided to support the "voice of sanity and decency and humanity" because her seat was at serious risk and he did not want to see either of the major parties gain control of the Senate.
Fraser said he supported Hanson-Young because of her views on asylum seekers and it troubled him that Australia was going to an election with no clear agenda from the Coalition.
"It is the negative things that are key I suppose, he won't do this, he won't do that, he'll repeal this, he'll repeal something else but in terms of positive things, the plate is pretty empty," he told Guardian Australia.
Fraser has known Hanson-Young for years and offered to publicly support her after she told him she was facing a difficult re-election battle for her Senate seat.
As well as believing the current asylum-seeker policies are cruel, he thinks they have damaged Australia's standing in the international community.
"In more recent times Keating had an idea of Australia as its own country but the Liberal Party seems to regard ourselves as a deputy sheriff of the United States," Fraser said.
"I don't think so far Abbott, Gillard or Rudd have any idea of Australia's role except to cuddle up to America as closely as we can and that is not going to be good for our future.
"That has also been noted throughout Asia. I've had different people in different governments say to me 'of course we'll keep on talking to Australia, you're part of the region but we wish Australia had an independent voice, we don't need to go to Australia to get America's views, we get them direct'."
Fraser said foreign minister Bob Carr's comments that most of the asylum seekers arriving by boat were economic immigrants were irresponsible.
"It is complete nonsense," he said. "If it was true then their so-called policies of deterrence would work."
Fraser said the deterrence policies did not work because Australia could never be worse than the horrors people were fleeing.
Fraser resigned his Liberal Party membership in 2009, saying the party had become too conservative.
Hanson-Young said she was humbled by Fraser's support for her campaign and his track record as prime minister was proof that asylum seekers could be handled humanely.
"After the Vietnam War he worked with our neighbours to resettle vast numbers of refugees who were fleeing persecution. Not only did that save countless lives, but it helped to build both Australia's community and its economy in the long-term," she said.
"Many people feel Australia is heading in the wrong direction and it is a view held by voters from across the political spectrum.
"Having Mr Fraser come to South Australia gives people from the conservative side of politics the opportunity to see that there still is a voice for decency out there."
