The Australian Greens have condemned Kevin Rudd's latest cruel manoeuvring and bribery of Nauru.

Australian Greens Leader Senator Christine Milne said: "The Prime Minister is caught out by his own rush to cruelty.

"Kevin Rudd said there would be no exceptions, but when it became clear he couldn't send children under seven or pregnant women because of malaria, he had to hurriedly cobble together a new cruel punishment for them.

"Kevin Rudd has come up with Nauru not only as a place of punishment, but as a place of resettlement. It is cruel and absurd.

The Australian Greens have launched a new plan to give refugees a safer pathway to protection.

The plan includes increasing the government's humanitarian intake to 30,000 a year, providing an extra $70 million per annum in emergency funding to help fast track the processing of refugee claims in Indonesia and shutting down all detention camps in Nauru and Papua New Guinea.