Immigration Minister Peter Dutton. Credit:Andrew Meares On Sunday Mr Dutton said the family would be released into community detention, but would eventually return to Nauru. The Courier Mail on Tuesday reported that the baby's mother was interviewed by police after a guard claimed she admitted the girl was purposely burnt to get to Australia. The newspaper reported that the mother refuted the allegations when interviewed by police at the hospital on Friday, and that Queensland Police confirmed the investigation had been finalised. It is understood no charges were laid. The allegations against the mother are at odds with Lady Cilento Hospital records stating the child spilt hot water on her chest and that there is "no evidence that the burn injury is non-accidental".

Baby Asha has been released into community detention but faces deportation to Nauru. "The injury occurred when [the child] pulled a bowl containing recently boiled water off a table onto herself," states the document, which advocates said the family wanted publicly released. "[Asha] lives in a tent with no kitchen facilities except for a kettle. [Her] mother boils all the water she consumes to ensure it is safe for drinking." There has long been concern about inadequate facilities in accommodation tents at Nauru, which do not have running water.

Getup human rights director Shen Narayanasamy accused the government of playing "dirty politics" and making discredited allegations similar to those made during the children overboard affair, and against Save the Children staff last year. She said the media report contained information that could only have been supplied by the government. The report said the Department of Immigration and Border Protection planned to return the family to Nauru as soon as possible, and considered them to be economic refugees from Nepal. On Monday Mr Dutton, a former Queensland police officer, said he knew of the investigation but would not comment further. A spokeswoman for Mr Dutton on Tuesday denied he or any government official supplied information about the family or the police investigation to the media.

But she indicated that Mr Dutton's bureaucrats made the police referral, saying "if the department receives a specific allegation of abuse regarding a child, it will comply with any mandatory responsibilities it has under state and territory law to report the allegations to the appropriate authorities for investigation". In Parliament on Monday, Mr Dutton said he would not preside over a situation where people were "self-harming to come to hospitals in this country" because they believed it was a route to Australian citizenship. "We will provide the medical assistance, including to this baby and including to other people that we have brought to this country, and when the medical assistance has been provided to that family ... that person will return to Nauru," he said. Greens MP Adam Bandt later slammed the comments as "disgusting and vile". Ms Narayanasamy said Mr Dutton was in possession of medical reports "which clearly state Baby Asha's injuries were accidental".

"This family has been in hospital for three weeks surrounded by people trained to pick up any hint of abuse. The only abuse doctors picked up was that the baby was at risk if she was sent back to detention in the care of the minister," she said. She questioned why a response had not been sought from the mother for the media report, adding "these people have been denied fair comment". Greens immigration spokeswoman Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the one person "actively harming children, every single day, is the Immigration Minister Peter Dutton". "The medical report in this case clearly states that there is no evidence the injury was non-accidental. When it comes to who to trust out of Peter Dutton or the medical professionals who are trying to protect children on Nauru, I know who I'll back every time," she said. The government maintains it has dramatically reduced the number of children in immigration detention, and that its tough border policies have prevented asylum seeker deaths at sea.