Australia's controversial plan to send boatpeople to Malaysia could be finalised next week, a report said Thursday, as the conservative opposition ramped up its criticism of the move.

The Australian newspaper, citing unnamed sources, said Kuala Lumpur was expected to approve the refugee swap when it meets next Wednesday.

If Malaysia's cabinet gives the green light, a memorandum of understanding will then be signed with Canberra that will see 800 asylum seekers sent to Malaysia for processing.

In return, Australia will accept 4,000 registered refugees currently living in Malaysia.

The plan has been highly controversial, with claims that asylum seekers sent to Malaysia may face inhumane treatment including caning.

Kuala Lumpur is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention.

Opposition spokesman Scott Morrison upped the ante by likening Malaysia's treatment of asylum seekers to the treatment of Australian cattle in Indonesia.

He was referring to an Australian documentary aired this week revealing the cruel treatment of livestock in Indonesian abattoirs, which resulted in Canberra suspending live beef exports to 11 slaughterhouses.

'Prospect of caning is real'

"I'm equally shocked by the fact of the treatment that people receive in Malaysia on the basis of reports that we receive," he told reporters.

"If we are going to be consistent about these matters then I think the conditions (under which) these people will be held and treated in Malaysia is a relevant question this parliament should be asking the prime minister.

"The prospect of caning is real."

Some 90,000 refugees, mainly from Myanmar, live in Malaysia.

Australia's plan has been compared by media to the "Pacific Solution" which was branded "inhumane" by human rights groups before it was repealed by Prime Minister Julia Gillard's centre-left Labor Party in 2007.

Under that policy, asylum seekers were held in detention centres on the tiny Nauru and Manus island in Papua New Guinea. Gillard's government is in talks to revive the PNG plan.

Thousands of asylum seekers flock by boat to Australia each year with detention centres already overcrowded, prompting recent violent unrest in the often remote units.

Since Gillard announced her proposal last month, more than 150 new asylum seekers have been intercepted in Australian waters.

- AFP