Mr O'Connor, who was sworn into the role this week, said he would visit the government's offshore detention centres as a matter of urgency.

''I will be visiting both Manus [Island] processing centre and Nauru as soon as I possibly can so I can actually be properly briefed and see for myself exactly the situation in those centres,'' Mr O'Connor told the ABC on Wednesday morning.

Marianne Evers, a nurse who resigned in disgust halfway through a six-week stint at the Nauru detention centre, told the ABC's Lateline program on Tuesday night that she saw ''desperation that I can't get out of my head''.

''I saw people hang themselves,'' said Ms Evers, a nurse for more than 40 years.

''I think in the three weeks that I was there there were three or four hangings that I witnessed and I don't think that has stopped since.''

Ms Evers said medical staff told her that there had been gang rapes at the camp but the nurse said she did not witness any herself.

Mr O'Connor said he would work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to ensure that ''we can prevent those things happening''.

The Immigration Minister was also asked about the Coalition's recent visit to Sri Lanka and claims they would bolster the Australian Federal Police presence on the ground in that country and would order the navy to turn around Sri Lankan asylum boats.

''This is a visit that happened too late,'' Mr O'Connor said. ''[The Coalition] set up this visit when there was a significant flow of vessels coming from Sri Lanka.

Mr O'Connor said that flow was now down to a trickle due partly to diplomatic efforts by Foreign Minister Bob Carr and previous immigration minister Chris Bowen.

''We now have had three people from Sri Lanka arrive in two and a half months.''

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