Australia's immigration minister accuses asylum seekers of lying

Following the leak of 2,000 reports which described allegations of sexual abuse, instances of self-harm and squalid living conditions allegedly taking place in the Nauru detention centre in Australia on Wednesday, Australian immigration minister Peter Dutton made the comments claiming that asylum seekers lie about sexual abuse and deliberately self-harm in order to secure passage to the country.

Dutton downplayed the leak, saying most of the allegations had "been reported before".

"I won't tolerate any sexual abuse whatsoever. But I have been made aware of some incidents that have been reported, false allegations of sexual assault, because in the end people have paid money to people smugglers and they want to come to our country," he told 2GB Radio.

"Some people have even gone to the extent of self-harming and people have self-immolated in an effort to get to Australia, and certainly some have made false allegations in an attempt to get to Australia."

The release of the "Nauru papers" has renewed calls for Australia to review its policies.