Don't expel asylum seekers, Greens say

Asylum seekers detained on Christmas Island should not be expelled, the Greens say.

Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said she was very concerned that Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd was talking to Papua New Guinea about putting them there.

"These are 500 people who have sought Australia's protection, they are being held in terrible conditions on Christmas Island, many children involved, unaccompanied minors," she said on Friday.

"We should not as Australians, people who believe in compassion and a fair go, think that it is right to simply expel those people anywhere else."