Claims the federal government wasn't given the opportunity to properly respond to a United Nations investigation into its asylum seeker policies don't stack up, a leading rights group says.
The Human Rights Law Centre says the Abbott government thumbed its nose at the UN's attempts to gain information prior to its damning report, which found Australia breached its obligations under the United Nations Convention against Torture.
Mr Abbott has stepped up his attack on the report describing it as "absolutely bizarre", two days after saying Australia was sick of being lectured by the UN.
"It seems the UN rapporteur didn't even bother getting a response from the Australian government, or didn't bother getting a proper response," he told Macquarie Radio on Wednesday.
"(He) went to the usual suspects the human rights activists and accepted everything they said as gospel truth."
The report examined four main issues: detention conditions and children in detention; the case of two boatloads of Tamil asylum seekers detained at sea in which one was sent back to Sri Lanka; the deadly riot at Manus Island; and changes to migration and maritime laws.
UN special rapporteur Juan Mendez, who compiled the report, complained the government's response did not sufficiently address his questions and concerns.
He accused the government of failing to fully and expeditiously cooperate with the UN Human Rights Council's mandate.
The government provided four responses over the course of 2014, all of which are publicly available.
The response concerning the Tamil asylum seeker case was three lines long and said the matter was before the High Court.
The remaining three responses were limited to one and two pages.
Human Rights Law Centre spokesman Daniel Webb says Mr Abbott's claim does not stack up.
"It's pretty rich for the government to complain about the fairness and thoroughness of a process it effectively thumbed its nose at," he told AAP.
Labor opposition immigration spokesman Richard Marles says the government treated the process with contempt.
"I think it's again the government shooting the messenger," he told Sky News.
Mr Mendez's findings are consistent with a separate UN assessment of Australia released in 2014.
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