It was a desperate move by desperate men with nothing to lose. In a sweltering outback refugee detention centre 12 men of Middle Eastern origin, who were already on hunger strike, stitched their lips together.

Their advocates, including the human rights group Amnesty International, said their bizarre demonstration was only the latest in a series of rooftop protests and suicide attempts by refugees in Australia angry that their applications for residency were not being processed fast enough.

"The situation for those seeking asylum in Australia is plunging to new, darker depths," Amnesty warned in a statement against the mandatory detention of asylum-seekers. "The practice is inappropriate, unnecessary and unfair."

But the public mood is hardly sympathetic to the perceived flood of illegal immigrants who appear to be invading the remote and rocky coasts of the vast, empty northwest in flimsy boats.

Last November alone 1,250 boat people from the Middle East, mainly from Iraq and Afghanistan, washed up on various reefs or were arrested by naval patrol boats. There was news that another 2,000 were on the way through people-smugglers in Indonesia. The detention centres were packed to overflowing and even the old rocket base at Woomera in the middle of the desert was reopened to accommodate the "unlawful non-citizens". The cost of dealing with illegals was predicted to rise to A$200 million (about IR£80 million) for this year alone.

"We are facing the biggest assault to our borders by unauthorised arrivals ever," said the immigration minister, Phillip Ruddock.

Given the atmosphere, even the lip stitching did not elicit much sympathy, and even less action.

"They [the protesters] have come in illegally and just have complete disregard for the proper processes of coming into this country, so I don't think they are in any position to protest," said the premier of Western Australia, Richard Court.

This week, on his Australian, tour the Taoiseach was clearly impressed with what he had been told about the government's immigration detention policy. The six detention centres, scattered from suburban Sydney to the remotest outback, now accommodate 3,5000 illegals.

"I am conscious that the Australian system is probably the best in the world in dealing with immigration," said Mr Ahern while refusing to rule out the introduction of mandatory detention in Ireland. His suggestion provoked a robust reaction from one of his countrymen who knows far too well the forbidding Port Hedland detention centre on the inhospitable north-west coast of Western Australia.

"It's an unfortunate answer to the refugee problem," said Father Wally McNamara, the parish priest of St Cecilia's. He has conducted weekly Mass at the centre for seven years.

"It's a thing I would hope that Ireland would never go for. I would be very sorry to be Irish to see that happen in Ireland. I don't know what the answer is to the problem but just putting them behind bars is no answer."

Father McNamara said many of the refugees had experienced great trauma in their countries and on their perilous journey to Australia only to be thrown into detention for an unknown period.

Most of the Iraqis and Afghans are finally granted refugee status and allowed to stay but many Chinese are not and are forcibly deported. One Chinese family with two young children has spent five years inside Port Hedland, exhausting legal appeals.

"How they reconcile that with all the protocols about the rights of the child is an exercise in how you can drive a coach and four through any court of law," said the outspoken priest and refugee advocate.

"They call it a detention centre but it's a prison of course. The language is diplomatic about low security facilities but the reality is that there's razor wire, double fences and security guards. They are unarmed visibly but they are there."

Margaret Piper, executive director of the Refugee Council of Australia, was also aghast at the suggestion a country like Ireland might like to copy the system.

"It would be very misguided if Mr Ahern was to follow our policy directly given that the Australian policy has come under so much international and domestic criticism," she said.

SHE said that anyone who arrived without documents was detained whether or not they were a risk to the community, and their detention was not reviewable by any court. She added that the United Nations guidelines for minimum detention and the early provision for release were being ignored by the government.

But Mr Ruddock, who flew to Europe last Thursday to pursue his mission to discourage illegal migrants from "jumping the queue", said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees recognised detention was required and was only part of the wider policy to deal with illegals.

"If you don't have them in a detention environment the experience has been that people don't necessarily present or co-operate in relation to the assessment of their claim and when it comes to removal they are not available," he said.

The minister defended the living conditions in the camps, which are run by private contractors under government supervision, where the residents were recently ridiculed after asking for satellite TV and Internet access.

"The facts are the detention centres are not holiday camps but they are not jails. The fact is they do restrict peoples' movements, no doubt about that, but the way in which they operate is clearly humane and are intended to ensure people are available when required."

Des Hogan, who worked with refugees in Ireland with Amnesty, is now based in the Sydney office and two years ago co-wrote a critical report on the detention system and its high financial costs to the community and social and human costs to the involuntary residents.

He said the government was trying to punish asylum-seekers and despite denials was using the detention system as a deterrent which, in view of the large number of boat people now arriving, was clearly a failure.

"The frustration at the lack of progress, the psychological stress, the attitude of staff, the suicide attempts, the hunger strikes . . . these are all symptoms of a system which is very hardline and is not conducive to anything to do with human dignity," he said.

Australia is generous in its official intake of 12,000 refugees a year. But the temptation of beating the wait and the paperwork and sneaking ashore on Australia's 37,000 km coastline is proving too great despite the threat of detention.

Late last year the government changed the law so that illegals who qualify as refugees will only be eligible for a three-year visa with no chance to bring their families over or claim much welfare.

"As a model for exporting elsewhere this is really something which shouldn't be looked at," said Mr Hogan. "It's against international law and Ireland would find itself before many UN committees and the European Court of Human Rights over and over again.

"It would be counter-productive."