Asylum seekers now on Nauru can be resettled in Cambodia if they're not happy remaining in detention, the federal government insists.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, responding to the latest self-harm incident on the remote Pacific island, also warned refugee advocates not to offer false hope about the chances of resettlement in Australia.
A 21-year-old Somali woman is being treated for critical injuries in a Brisbane hospital after she set herself alight on Nauru.
The latest incident follows the death of a 23-year-old Iranian man in similar circumstances last week.
"Advocates should reflect on their messages of false hope and misleading portrayal of the situation in Nauru," Mr Dutton told reporters in Canberra today.
He insisted the government won't be deterred from its tough border protection policies.
"Their intentions may be honourable and they may be noble in their own minds but they are causing serious harm," Mr Dutton said of the advocates.
Refugees had opportunities to make a new life on Nauru or resettle in Cambodia, while others on Manus Island could settle in Papua New Guinea.
"Having been given that protection, having fled the circumstances of their country of origin, you can't then say, `We're not happy with the fact we have been able to seek refuge here, we want to go to another destination'," he said.
Immigration Department officials travelled to PNG at the weekend for discussions about what will happen to the Manus detention centre, ruled illegal by the country's highest court.
Labor believes the focus on deterrence with no pathway to permanent migration in a resettlement country is leaving people desperate and without hope.
"Mr Turnbull must urgently seek a viable agreement to resolve the fate of people on Manus Island and Nauru," the opposition's immigration spokesman Richard Marles said.
Labor has pledged to find new resettlement countries for about 1300 asylum seekers and refugees on Nauru and Manus.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten told colleagues that Labor in government would make clear through its actions that "we do not support indefinite detention".
The UN refugee agency says the existing policy of offshore processing and prolonged detention is immensely harmful.
"Despite efforts by the governments of Papua New Guinea and Nauru, arrangements in both countries have proved completely untenable," the UNHCR said in a statement.
The Greens say government policy is designed to push people to a point where they give up.
Refugee Action Coalition's Ian Rintoul said the government didn't have any evidence advocates encouraged self-harm and similar allegations made by previous minister Scott Morrison had been proven false.
"He should seek the advice of mental health experts before he makes such ill-informed pronouncements," Mr Rintoul said in a statement.
World Vision Australia chief executive Tim Costello called on the government to immediately find a solution, saying its policies had left refugees without hope.
"In their determination to stop the boats, successive Australian governments have cast refugees into a no-man's land of indefinite detention, out of sight, out of mind and out of conscience," he said.
Mr Costello said reports the Somali woman had been held on Nauru for three years and comments her "gentle soul" had been destroyed in detention were gravely concerning to World Vision, which knew too well why female refugees from the country could not go back.
