Greens senator Nick McKim has been refused access to Nauru, with a consular official from the Pacific nation claiming Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs does not support his trip.
Senator McKim was planning to visit Nauru next week to investigate conditions on the island and speak with refugees.
However, he was informed on Thursday evening his visa application had been denied.
"We have been informed by the Australian High Commission on Nauru that the Senators (sic) request to visit Nauru does not have the support of the Australian DFAT office," a Nauruan official wrote to the senator.
"Therefore Nauru Government is unable to support the Senators (sic) visa request at this time."
The Department of Foreign Affairs has been contacted for comment.
The health of asylum seekers on Nauru has shot to prominence in the past few weeks, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison under immense pressure to bring sick children and their families to Australia.
Eleven children were evacuated earlier this week, leaving 52 on the island.
"We have had more come off. I know that figure is already starting to fall," Mr Morrison told the Nine Network on Friday.
The prime minister repeatedly refused to provide a timeline of when all refugee children would leave Nauru, many of whom have been on the remote island for up to five years.
"I just want to get them off, but I want to get them off in a way which does not put more children on Nauru," he said.
"If one boat turns up or one child is floating face down in the water, how would Australia feel then?"
Liberal MP Julia Banks has savaged her own party - and the Labor opposition - for playing political games while sick children and their families languish on the island.
Ms Banks has called for a "one-off act of grace" to remove all asylum seekers from Nauru.
Mr Morrison said he was working "methodically and quietly" to resettle asylum seekers.
"Every child who requires specialised medical treatment is getting it and has been transferred and more will be transferred," he said.
"What I am not going to do is get involved in a sort of public slanging match over it."
Mr Morrison said there were more medical staff on Nauru than there were refugee children.
He said the children were living in the community - not in detention - but acknowledged they were forbidden from leaving the island.
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