Immigration minister Tony Burke says those responsible for rioting in a Nauru immigration detention facility a week ago are criminals and he says the full force of the law in Nauru could apply.
Mr Burke says most of the facilities at the detention centre were destroyed in the riots in which hundreds of the asylum seekers are believed to have taken part.
But he says new facilities will be re-established with temporary accomodation provided in the interim, including mass-accomodation with about 100 people to a single marquee.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
Mr Burke says asylum seekers who took part in the riots - torching buildings and using metal bars as weapons - could face long prison terms under Nauruan law.
"There has been an attempt by some to argue that somehow the conditions in which people were housed in Nauru in some way made action of this nature inevitable and there has been comments by some to paint the people invovled in the destruction as somehow victims themselves. I have to say I don't hold that view for one minute nor do the majority of people who are there for their claims to be processed."
