Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has described the actions of guards who reportedly mocked an asylum seeker who self-harmed as ''completely unacceptable''.
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It was reported on Tuesday that employees at the Manus Island processing centre joked on social media about an asylum seeker who swallowed a pair of nail clippers on Christmas Day.
The Guardian Australia reported that staff from security firm G4S made jokes about the incident on Facebook.
A spokeswoman for Mr Morrison said the Immigration Department had asked G4S to investigate the incident and provide a report.
''It is completely inappropriate to mock self-harming behaviour,'' she said.
In a statement, G4S said it was ''very concerned'' by reports of inappropriate comments via social media.
''We were not previously aware of these allegations.''
The company said the health, safety and welfare of ''those in our care are our highest priority''.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young told ABC Radio on Wednesday that the incident showed that more training was needed for staff at processing centres.
''What this really does is just highlight how toxic the culture is within the detention camp,'' she said.
Senator Hanson-Young also said people who thought self-harm was a joke should not be in supervisory positions.
