Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson Young says the Australian government must not use Nauru's political situation as an excuse for delaying the processing of asylum seekers there.
Three Nauru government ministers have either quit or resigned in the last few weeks.
Fears of a constitutional crisis have raised concerns that asylum seeker processing, due to be conducted by the Nauru administration, will be delayed.
Ms Hanson Young says the Australian government is being cheeky and dishonest if it doesn't take ultimate responsibility for processing the detainees on both Nauru and Papua New Guinea.
"The assessment of people's claims for asylum must start to be processed as of today. If we can't get the claims assessed on Manus Island and Nauru these people should be brought back to Australia. It's as simple as that."
Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson Young.
