Rioters turned out to be refugees

New data shows most asylum seekers detained during the Christmas Island and Villawood riots were later found to be refugees.

Refugees involved are not allowed to leave detention because they are waiting to find out if they have been sentenced to jail terms for their involvement in the riots. If they are found to be guilty they will not be accepted into Australia, even though they are considered genuine refugees. Asylum-seekers must pass a character test to be allowed into Australia and if they get a criminal record it means that they will not be accepted.

A report into riots that broke out during March and April last year said 80 of 100 detainees involved in the Christmas Island riots had received initial rejections, and blamed the disturbances, and self-harm, on detainees ''receiving the wrong outcome in their eyes''.

The report's author, Allan Hawke, told a parliamentary committee last week: ''The conclusion we were coming to was that these were not genuine refugees and they were reacting to the fact that they had paid a people smuggler to come to Australia … [and] they were going to vent their anger on the system''.

The government has repeatedly blamed the riots on large numbers of detainees being on ''a negative pathway'', rather than detention conditions.

The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, has questioned Dr Hawke's findings. "These statistics prove that the government's rhetoric - that people who have been in detention long-term are not refugees and are on negative pathways - is simply not true. Most, in fact, are genuine refugees who have been unnecessarily detained for far too long while the government played politics with their lives,'' she said.

A spokesman for the Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen, said riot ringleaders still faced having refugee visas refused by the minister if they were sentenced.

Overall refugee approval data should not be linked to specific individuals involved in the riots, ''many of whom have been charged, remain on a negative pathway and are still subject to new tougher character requirements'', he said.

The Hawke inquiry ''made clear the incidents were largely the result of the frustrations of a group of people on a 'negative pathway' not being regarded as refugees,'' the spokesman said.