SYDNEY, Australia — Australia’s immigration minister, Peter Dutton, has defended a move to cut off financial and housing support to up to 100 asylum seekers brought from its offshore camps for medical treatment, reigniting debate over the country’s detention policy.

In a radio interview on Monday, Mr. Dutton accused asylum seekers of using medical transfers to manipulate the system and as a way to escape detention on Australia’s offshore camps on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and on the island nation of Nauru.

“I think people believe in a fair go, but this is ripping the system off,” he said in an interview with the conservative radio host Alan Jones. “We’ve given notice to almost 60 of them to say that the game is up and we aren’t going to provide you with the housing — the welfare will stop,” Mr. Dutton said, referring to asylum seekers.

News of the changes was first reported on Sunday by The Age, which said that under new visa conditions, up to 100 asylum seekers brought to Australia for medical treatment would, as of Monday, no longer receive financial support of about 400 Australian dollars, or about $315, a month. The asylum seekers would also have three weeks to leave government-supported housing and find new places to live.