Nauru's justice minister has dismissed concerns about the safety of asylum seekers who now are free to come and go at will from the island's detention centre, saying "in some ways Nauru is safer than Australia".
David Adeang says refugees in Nauru are in no physical danger and stories of locals attacking them are "largely fabricated" to further political agendas and influence the Australian government.
"There is no gun violence in Nauru, people are not dying from domestic violence and our police don't even have to be armed, so let's get some perspective into this discussion," Mr Adeang said.
But his assurances have been rejected by critics including Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, one of the few Australian politicians to visit the island.
"This is the minister who's responsible for overseeing the investigations into child abuse, rape and assault on Nauru," Senator Hanson-Young said.
"It's deeply concerning that this is the attitude of the person the Australian government is hiding behind. I have no faith that women and children will be safe or that justice will be delivered while he's in charge."
Early this year an independent review into sexual abuse inside the Nauru detention centre found evidence of rape, sexual assault of minors and guards trading marijuana for sexual favours from female detainees.
The full bench of the High Court will sit on Wednesday and Thursday to hear a challenge to the lawfulness of the Australian government's role in offshore detention on Nauru and Manus Island.
Senator Hanson-Young called on the Turnbull government, which funds Nauru's detention centre and asylum seeker program, to ensure that the media and human rights bodies are able to report the situation on the island.
Mr Adeang said claims by the Refugee Action Coalition of an assault on two male refugees were an unfounded attempt to criticise the open centre arrangements, saying the group had "a history of making unsubstantiated allegations of assault that have regularly been found to be false".
The coalition's Ian Rintoul responded by accusing Mr Adeang of making "wild and unsubstantiated assertions" designed to cover-up the serious levels of violence on the island. He cited Nauruan government documents confirming concerns about domestic violence and the failure to investigate a series of rape allegations by asylum seekers and refugees.
The Department of Immigration confirmed the incident involving the two male refugees was reported to police and Fairfax Media sighted a copy of the police witness statement.
