Concerns have been voiced over some of the findings of a report by rights group Amnesty International into conditions in Australia's offshore detention centre on Manus Island.
(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)
The human rights organisation visited the Papua New Guinea island last month and is describing the facilities there as something between a prison and a military camp.
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The Amnesty report is scathing in its criticism of the conditions at Australia's Manus Island detention facility.
It says the 1,100 male asylum-seekers there live in overcrowded compounds that lack privacy and provide no shelter from tropical heat.
The report says some asylum-seekers on Manus Island don't have shoes and there's not enough water.
It says some detainees have fainted from heat stroke because they are forced to queue in the sun for hours for food.
Amnesty also claims there are three under-age boys detained at the camp alongside adult men because of rushed assessments.
Amnesty spokesman Graeme McGregor says the conditions in one dormitory are so bad they could breach the United Nations Convention against Torture.
"The daily indignities, the constant pressure placed on them to return. They're regularly reminded they can go home, is really breaking down their mental health and really exacerbating their conditions. Now unfortunately we feel that rather than being a result of incompetence we feel this is a deliberate practice and is outright cruelty."
The Immigration Minister, Scott Morrison, says he will seek to verify details of the Amnesty report and the allegations that conditions at Manus are inhumane.
But in a statement, he's already sought to shift blame for any deficiencies at the detention centre back to the previous Labor government.
"Where practical, suggestions raised to improve the operations of our offshore processing centres will be given proper consideration. The Government, in partnership with our partners in Nauru and PNG, have already acted to reactivate processing of claims on Nauru and Manus and to rapidly expand the capacity and nature of facilities at both Nauru and Manus, to address the deficiencies we identified when coming to Government, some of which are also noted in the Amnesty Report. Where improvements can be made and can be justified, they will be made, but the policy of offshore processing is here to stay."
Australian Greens Deputy Leader Adam Bandt has rejected the idea that Labor is to blame.
"The Coalition government is consistent on one thing and that's their cruelty. Before the election, they chose to beat up on some of the world's most vulnerable people in order to win votes and they're continuing to do it."
The Greens say they're extremely concerned by the conditions alleged in the Amnesty report.
Adam Bandt says it's tantamount to bullying asylum-seekers into wanting to return home.
"Not only do we need immediately independent access and an independent review of what is happening at Manus Island but, we would argue, we should close it. We are putting people coming here who are seeking our help and are essentially bullying them to try and get them to go back to the places that they were fleeing from. It's unacceptable."
Labor frontbencher Jason Clare agrees it's not fair to expect people to live in the conditions outlined in the Amnesty report.
But he's rejected assertions conditions are deliberately bad on Manus to deter people from seeking asylum in Australia by boat.
"I wouldn't accept that. But it is important that the government does all of the necessary things to make sure that people are treated fairly and I expect them to do that."
Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul says the only way to guarantee people are treated fairly in offshore detention is to grant independent access to the facilities.
"We've long argued for that. There needs to be some independent oversight or some independent access on Manus Island and on Nauru. We had a very similar report from Nauru only a week or so ago. Without that independent oversight, without access to the detention centre, without some place that the detainees feel they can make complaints and take their kinds of issues, I think we know from past experience the situation will only get worse."
Pamela Curr is a refugee rights advocate with the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.
She's called the Amnesty report into Manus Island confronting, distressing and thorough.
Ms Curr has visited detention centres across Australia and on Christmas Island and says the conditions on Manus Island and Nauru, as outlined by Amnesty, wouldn't be legal under Australian law.
"The report points out there are banks and banks of washing machines but there's no power to make the washing machines go. There are not enough toilets to go around. If you do the numbers, 16 toilets for 500 men. For heavens' sake, what are we doing? There are people there with disabilities. There's a man there who suffers from dwarfism, a tiny man, he can't reach the toilets, he can't use the facilities and they still deny him access, even to a stepping stool. If you read this report it is so distressing. Every Australian should read this report because we will be judged by future generations by what is in this report."
