The government says it is speeding up processing but Senator Cameron said Immigration Minister Chris Bowen needed to ''pedal faster''. After security checks were completed, much of the processing could be done when people were in the community, where charitable and community groups would help the asylum seekers, he said.

Protests by detainees continued yesterday across the country, with people on the roof at Christmas Island, where there is a separate hunger strike, and three detainees still on the roof at Sydney's Villawood centre.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said the authorities should remove people from roofs. ''These protests have to be ended and if it was happening in our streets … the police would move in and they would sort it out,'' Mr Abbott said. ''I don't think there's any fundamental difference here.''

Amnesty International attacked the government's move to give only temporary visas to refugees convicted of offences committed in detention. Its refugee spokesman, Graham Thom, said: ''The recent violence at Villawood and Christmas Island is not excusable but it's not surprising, either. People should not be punished for a system that is broken.''

Richard Towle, regional representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said the UNHCR understood the government's proposed changes would not involve the expulsion of recognised refugees. ''But we would need to see the legislation to assess its impact on other Australian government obligations under the refugee convention.''