Dutton won't budge on asylum seeker girl

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has rejected as "repugnant" an accusation he is torturing a five-year-old girl by keeping her in immigration detention.

The Iranian girl, who has been in detention for more than a year, is suffering post-traumatic stress disorder and attempted self-harm by swallowing shampoo and nails.

Her asylum-seeker family was moved from Nauru to Darwin last year so her father could receive medical treatment.

They will be returned to Nauru once the father has recovered.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says medical experts say the girl's illness is associated with her time on Nauru and sending her back could cause further harm.

"The minister is torturing this little child and I don't use those words lightly," she said.

"Quite simply, this is mental torture."

Mr Dutton said that was a repugnant accusation.

"That comment is beneath even Sarah Hanson-Young," he told reporters in Brisbane.

The government had been consistent in its message that asylum seekers detained on Nauru would never be resettled in Australia, Mr Dutton said.