In a major policy shift, the Federal Government is preparing to announce plans to release hundreds of asylum seekers from detention and allow them to live in the community while their applications for asylum are being assessed.

The West Australian newspaper is today reporting that under the new plan, asylum seekers who are not considered a security risk will be eligible for release, with priority given to families with children.

It means hundreds of asylum seekers, including about 700 children, who are currently in detention centres are likely to be released.

Greens Senator for South Australia Sarah Hanson-Young has been working with the Federal Government to bring about this major policy change.

Senator Hanson-Young has held talks with Immigration Minister Chris Bowen, who she says is moving quickly on the issue. She says a deal to release the detainees is close.

"It's not a done deal yet but it is definitely a very, very important acknowledgement from this Government," she told Saturday AM.

"I spoke with the Minister about this in his first week and stressed that we can't keep going down this awful, awful path back to the days under the John Howard government when we had young people sewing their lips together, young children swallowing bottles of shampoo all because of the dreadful impact that immigration detention was having on their mental health."

She says there are 742 children currently in immigration detention, a figure that includes children who have come with their family and children who are unaccompanied.

Senator Hanson-Young says issues of employment and education are still yet to be worked out.

"Children who are of school age will need to be going to school. That's one of the things that I'm quite strong on," she said.

"In terms of working, some people may be able to, because they're up for it. Other people are simply are not in a state to be able to work as yet ... My understanding is that the Minister wouldn't have made a decision on those work rules yet."

She says there will be a variety of different options for housing.

"Currently, of course, there are families and children housed in detention facilities at the moment in Darwin where they're under lock and guard by 24 hour security, where their movement is restricted," she said.

"Even removing that restriction will actually help a lot. Parents could take their kids down to the park, make them meals as they see fit.

"They may seem like small changes but actually they mean a lot."

Turning point

Mary Crock, a Professor of Public Law at the University of Sydney, has written extensively about the problems associated with detaining asylum seekers and has lobbied the Government to change its policy.

She says this is a turning point for asylum seekers in Australia and a change that is long overdue.

"Detention is very harmful to the mental health and other aspects of the health of the asylum seekers," she said.

"It's also a very inefficient way to deal with the problem. People are being detained in very remote locations; it costs a literal fortune to get the decision-makers out to the asylum seekers."

She says she has been struck by how unaware Australia is of what other countries are doing.

"We are really by ourselves when it comes to keeping asylum seekers in detention for the length of their processing time," she said.

"Every other country around the world has mechanisms for allowing people out if they don't pose any threat to the community.

"The central question should be: do these people pose a flight risk? Do they pose a risk of any other sort to the community? If not, why are we spending a literal fortune locking them up in remote locations? It doesn't help anybody."

She says it is not difficult to determine who poses a threat before asylum claims have been processed.

"Most asylum seekers, most people who come here and claim refugee status in Australia come here by plane and they live quite happily in the community," she said.

"They don't abscond, on the whole. So there's no reason why boat people should be in any different category."

Professor Crock would like to see this move as the beginning of a major policy change away from detention altogether.

"There's no practical reason why we should be doing this," she said.

"It seems to have been really done more as a sop to the domestic population than to any question of efficiency and effectiveness.

"What we need to see happen is we need to see people being processed in a fair and efficient way so as to see what their status is under international law, see whether they really do have claims upon our good nature. We can't do that effectively if people are in remote locations."