Former immigration minister Scott Morrison has warned Australia's border protection policies are at risk from a High Court challenge.
Human rights advocates are taking the commonwealth to court over its role in the Nauru immigration detention centre, which Mr Morrison says has helped save the lives of asylum seekers and allowed Australia to take an extra 12,000 refugees from Middle East.
"They are all important outcomes and anything that puts that at risk would greatly concern me and I think would greatly concern many Australians," he told ABC radio on Wednesday.
The Human Rights Law Centre says the case relates to the government's role in funding and controlling the detention of people in another country.
"Without doubt, the questions at the heart of this case strike at the core of the current offshore detention arrangements," the centre's director of legal advocacy Daniel Webb told reporters outside the court.
The lead case, on behalf of 200 others, relates to a woman brought from Nauru to Australia with her child who fears she will be sent back.
"Let me be clear, Australia should not be warehousing anyone on remote Pacific islands, especially not 10-month-old babies," Mr Webb said.
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