Prominent refugee lawyer David Manne last night expressed concern that the Labor Government has established an "Indian Ocean Solution" to replace the abolished Pacific Solution.

Mr Manne, Co-ordinator of the Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre, said that many of the worst aspects of the controversial Pacific Solution are continuing under the new policy.

Speaking at a public meeting hosted by the Refugee Action Collective in Melbourne, Mr Manne said, "What we now have is what I would call the Indian Ocean Solution. That is, many of the most problematic and objectionable aspects of the Pacific Solution have in effect been imported back in to our own territory (in the Indian Ocean)."

The Pacific Solution was started in 2001 by the Coalition Government. Under that system, asylum seekers who were intercepted while trying to arrive in Australia were processed in detention centres in the Pacific Ocean.

During the 2007 federal election campaign the Labor Party pledged to abolish the Pacific Solution. They did this within months of winning the 2007 election, closing the Nauru detention centre in February.

However, under the new policy asylum seekers will be moved to offshore detention centres in the Indian Ocean, most notably Christmas Island.

Mr Manne said that the Indian Ocean detention centres are outside the full influence of Australian law, effectively maintaining one of the key aspects of the Pacific Solution.

"We still have this peculiar policy and law in our country where parts of our territory will be dehumanised. That is, human rights will apply there a little bit or not at all depending on the political discretion of the day."

"There are places (within Australian territory) where people don't have access to Australian law for the purposes of pursuing what is a fundamentally legal question. That is, (the question of) refugee status."

The Australian Government is also paying for the construction of new detention centres in Indonesia. Mr Manne cited this as further evidence that the Pacific Solution has simply been relocated to the Indian Ocean.

Pamela Curr, from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, described Australia's use of detention centres in Indonesia as "the most appalling situation."

The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre represents some asylum seekers being processed in Indonesia. Ms Curr said it is difficult to protect their rights in Indonesia, especially since Indonesia is not signatory to the Refugee Convention.

She described one meeting with asylum seekers in Indonesia: "On the 14 of December, in the middle of an interview, in the middle of the day, we took half an hour for lunch. We came back afterwards to resume the interview. The Indonesian police had come and taken the men. The women didn't know where. "Eventually we found out they were taken 450 kilometres away to Makassar Quarantine Prison, where they have been incarcerated ever since."

Ms Curr warned refugee advocates against assuming that last year's change of government would bring about radical reform in refugee policy.