Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young will work with Save the Children to get hundreds of toys to 109 children in detention

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

Hundreds of toys are expected to be delivered to asylum seeker children living in detention on Nauru.

One hundred and nine children were among asylum seekers held at the offshore processing centre on the south Pacific island of Nauru when the latest statistics from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection were issued in November.

The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young – who called for toy donations last month – said the “amazing” public response showed a lot of people wanted “to see refugees, especially children, treated with care rather than cruelty”.

The comments came after the Abbott government acknowledged it needed to improve facilities for families on Nauru.

Hanson-Young said she would work with Save the Children this month to get the toys to the children, who were forced to live in “completely unacceptable” conditions.

"The presents have been rolling in from across the country and the phones have been ringing hot with people calling to donate more,” she said in a statement.

"Some communities have raised more than $1,000 dollars and have ordered toys online for the children. We've also heard from multiple toy companies who are getting behind the campaign.”

Excess toys would be taken to centres in the onshore network and given to organisations that support refugees in the community, she said.

The immigration and border protection minister, Scott Morrison, said last week the government planned on “making further improvements to our offshore processing facilities, particularly to ensure appropriate accommodation and health facilities for families on Nauru where new funding has been put in place”.

Tony Abbott’s Coalition went to the election with a hardline policy for dealing with asylum seekers who arrive by boat, arguing that a combination of tough measures was needed to deter people from taking dangerous journeys by sea. This included offshore processing – a practice reintroduced by the former Labor government after growing political pressure over the issue. The former prime minister, Kevin Rudd, announced in July a new policy of ensuring that no one who arrived by boat without a visa would be settled in Australia.

In November, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) published two damning reports examining the government's offshore detention regime. The UNHCR concluded that family facilities on Nauru “raise serious issues about their compatibility with international human rights law” and recommended the government halt all transfers of families and children to Nauru.

It noted the “deteriorating mental health” of asylum seeker children on Nauru, saying a room for education services “was too hot for the children to remain in for any length of time”.

At the time, Morrison said the family facilities on Nauru had been left “underprepared” and “underfunded” by the previous government, but he disagreed with the UNHCR’s call to stop transfers.

The foreign minister, Julie Bishop, visited Nauru in December and described the conditions as better than in Australian mining camps. Bishop’s office subsequently confirmed she had only visited the area known as "OPC1", which includes staff facilities and new accommodation under construction.

In the past fortnight, Guardian Australia has reported on detailed concerns about conditions on Christmas Island following a 92-page letter of concern signed by 15 doctors.