All asylum children freed from mainland detention: Australia

SYDNEY: The last asylum-seeker children in Australian mainland detention have been freed, the government said Sunday, although dozens of others are still being held on the remote Pacific island of Nauru.

Under Canberra's harsh immigration policy, asylum-seekers who try to reach Australia by boat are turned back or sent to Pacific camps in Nauru and Papua New Guinea where they are held indefinitely while their refugee applications are processed.