The Gillard Government is maintaining its tough rhetoric against asylum-seekers as it faces a test case over a boy about to land on Christmas Island.
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He is believed to be the only child among 54 asylum-seekers intercepted on Sunday, becoming the first group facing expulsion to Malaysia under the new people swap deal.
However, the Government's policy of jailing children from boats - which Labor promised not to do - will be strongly criticised today by the prestigious Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.
In the scathing editorial, the public health journal says there were more children in immigration detention in early 2011 than ever before.
Every stage of the arrival of the boy and his family and their probable deportation will be videotaped by the Government, despite media being banned from the Christmas Island detention camp.
The Government will put the videos of asylum-seekers being forced on to aircraft on the internet as a deterrent to people smugglers who may believe children will be exempt.
AFP officers dressed in full riot gear are continuing to train in the jungle on Christmas Island before the arrival of the first group of asylum-seekers to be sent to Malaysia.
AFP officers can use Tasers, batons, tear gas, capsicum spray and handcuffs, but internal guidelines insist officers use minimum force reasonably necessary.
Under the terms of the agreement, Malaysian authorities will take control of asylum-seekers after Australian police take them to the door of the aircraft upon touchdown in Kuala Lumpur.
It is believed the Government will deport the boy with his family, to keep the family together and to show a tough face against people smugglers.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard repeated the asylum-seekers should obey instructions to board the aircraft to take them to Malaysia.
"In terms of who is on the boat, I think that is best finally ascertained and dealt with when people get to Christmas Island and disembark from the boat," she said.
The editorial in the public health journal says in September 2001, the Howard government had 842 children in detention. But in May this year there were 1082. "More than 30 per cent of these children are unaccompanied minors, most have been in detention for more than six months," it says.
The editorial says children are still subjected to mandatory detention in breach of Australias obligations under the Convention of the Rights of the Child and despite the fact that in 2005 the Migration Act was amended to affirm as a principle that a minor should only be detained as a measure of last resort.
"By law, the Minister for Immigration is the legal guardian of unaccompanied minors [but] under the Migration Act he is, in effect, their jailer, the two roles are irreconcilable," it says.
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen also repeated that there would be no blanket exemptions for asylum-seekers.
"If people are thinking about putting their children on a boat ... thinking that they might be able to skirt around this new arrangement, thats not the case," he said.
The Greens are concerned that no details have been released on the assessment process for the first group of asylum-seekers to be expelled to Malaysia.
"Will it be an independent assessment process, will there be an appeal process and how will it be performed?" Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young asked.
"It must be independent, especially when determining how children and other vulnerable people will be treated. [But] the Immigration Minister cannot answer these questions.
"These questions, along with the fact the UNHCR have not signed this non-binding deal, are reasons why it should be abandoned."
Hundreds of asylum-seekers have been transferred from Christmas Island to the Australian mainland this week to make way for the new arrivals.