Australian Greens leader Christine Milne is demanding Australian's Manus Island detention centre be immediately closed following the death of an asylum seeker.
Senator Milne also accused the government of "bragging" about poor conditions at the Papua New Guinea-based facility, which was the scene of a perimeter breach on Monday night.
"This is exactly what has been threatened in what has become Australia's gulag," she told reporters in Hobart.
Immigration minister Scott Morrison needed to provide a full explanation.
"Ministerial responsibility has to mean something and Scott Morrison has to stop hiding," Senator Milne said.
"It is craven and cowardly for him to constantly refuse to answer questions when it suits him and now try and pass this off as something that the PNG authorities will have to deal with.
"He has to deal with it, he's the minister, he's been bragging about the conditions in these detention centres."
Senator Milne said reports some asylum seekers were fleeing the violence, rather than taking part in a riot, needed explanation.
"Let's actually have the truth before we go running around suggesting that it was asylum seekers who are to blame and suggesting in some way that the victims of this are in some way responsible," she said.
The Greens plan to use all of their parliamentary options to have the incident investigated.
Senator Milne extended her sympathy to those close to the victims and to those who witnessed the event.
