Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has criticised the Immigration Minister's response to leaked reports alleging widespread abuse of asylum seekers on Nauru.

More than 2,000 incident reports published by The Guardian outlined various allegations of abuse, including assaults, sexual assaults and self-harm between 2013 and 2015.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton yesterday said some refugees were self-harming and filing false claims in an effort to get to Australia.

Mr Dutton told the ABC comparisons to Guantanamo Bay are "ridiculous" and only 1 per cent of the claims related to issues like sexual assault.

"Out of the 2,000 as I understand it, those analysed so far … about over 20 are critical," he said.

"So you're talking about where there's been an allegation of sexual assault, so might be a person within the regional processing centre that's alleged to have assaulted a female or male within the centre."

Mr Shorten criticised Mr Dutton's comments, saying Australia could not "turn a blind eye to what's happening".

"I'd ask Mr Dutton, how many abuses will there have to be before he thinks he should act?" he said.

"The idea that the only way we deter people smugglers is by keeping people in an indefinite detention, to me, it's not the right way to go."

Mr Shorten also renewed calls for the appointment of an independent child advocate.

Calls for child abuse royal commission to include Nauru

There are also growing calls for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse to widen its inquiry to include Nauru, while the Law Council of Australia is pushing for the appointment of an independent inspector of immigration detention.

In a statement, Law Council of Australia president, Stuart Clark, said such an appointment — alongside that of an independent monitor for migration laws — was necessary.

"The Law Council has consistently stated that Australia retains responsibility for the health and safety of asylum seekers transferred to other countries for offshore processing and assessment," he said.

"Making these key appointments could limit the risk of future harm to asylum seekers held in detention without undermining Australia's border protection policies."