Christmas and Cocos Islands administrator Jon Stanhope has been a vocal critic of Labor and Coalition asylum-seeker policies in recent years.
After two years overseeing the territory that has hosted thousands of boat arrivals, Mr Stanhope's term ends next week.
He says having seen asylum-seekers' suffering first-hand, he'd like to take a more active role in advocating for them in future.
Listen: Jon Stanhope speaks with Thea Cowie.
Mr Stanhope said his biggest concern is the offshore resettlement policy, though it was asylum seekers' looks of fear and alarm that would stay with him.
"I was just astounded," he said.
"Here on Christmas Island, we’ve had hundreds of families, hundreds of children confined in detention for 15 months.
"We now have children that are 15 months that have never lived outside a detention centre."
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