Immigration Minister Scott Morrison ordered an independent inquiry yesterday into allegations of sexual abuse at an immigration detention camp on Nauru island.

Mr Morrison undermined the initiative almost immediately however by emphasising that it would also examine whether aid workers were inventing such incidents or encouraging asylum-seekers to self-harm.

Asylum-seekers that Australia intercepts are sent to centres on Nauru and Papua New Guinea and, if deemed to be refugees, will ultimately be resettled in those countries or Cambodia, but not Australia.

Opposition Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young alleged earlier this week that female asylum-seekers were regularly required to strip and submit to abuse by guards before being allowed to shower.

She brought up charges that children were forced to perform sexual acts in front of guards, and that young people were attempting self-harm and suicide.