Asylum seekers in Australian detention centres are held for an average of more than nine months, far longer than international standards.

The average time asylum seekers are detained is 275 days – almost four times longer than the average 72 days asylum seekers were spending in detention in July last year.
President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Gillian Triggs, said the length of detention was "completely unjustified" and was "being used as a form of deterrence" to asylum seekers.
"Children and their parents are being used as a form deterrence.": Gillian Triggs.
"Children and their parents are being used as a form deterrence.": Gillian Triggs. Photo: Tara Ward
"It’s very common to hold people in detention to do security, identity and health checks. But anything longer than one or two months starts to look like arbitrary detention," she said.
The Australian average far exceeds that of other countries. In the US, the average detention period is 30 days, in Canada it is 25 days and in France 10 days, according tothe Geneva-based Global Detention Project.

It has been discovered that one asylum seeker, John Zulfiqar, has languished in detention for more than four years despite being declared a genuine refugee.
The average number of days in detention has risen every month for the past eight months, reaching highs that have not been seen since November 2011. 
The figures show Australia is on track to reach a new record in average detention length in the coming months.
The government figures exclude offshore facilities on Manus Island and Nauru, and were published amid negotiations over Cambodia accepting Australia-bound asylum seekers.
The National Commission of Audit found the annual cost of detaining an asylum seeker in Australia was $239,000 in 2013-14, up from $179,000 in 2011-12.
More than $400,000 is spent annually for each asylum seeker held in offshore detention centres, about $100,000 annually for an asylum seekerin community detention, and less than $50,000 for an asylum seeker on a bridging visa.
Refugee advocates say the average wait in detention centres has been artificially held down by past surges in new boat arrivals, which only subsided mid last year. 
Pamela Curr from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre said delays in processing were part of "a whole package of deterrence".
"This minister is not only trying to deter people by interdicting boats, turning them back, and so on. He’s also instituting a policy of punishment for those that are here already," she said.
Professor Triggs blamed the length of incarceration on the government's insistence that releasing asylum seekers into the community would encourage people-smuggling activities.
"In other words, children and their parents are being used as a form of deterrence, which, as we well know, is contrary to the Refugee Convention."
She warned increased unrest, anxiety, anger and self-harm – including among young children – would be the inevitable outcome of longer periods in detention.
Federal opposition spokesman for immigration Richard Marles described the trend as "disturbing", and accused the government of "reckless and negligent" management of asylum seeker issues.
"We need to see asylum seekers processed," he said. "Leaving them to languish in detention centres is not only costly, it prevents refugees from being able to settle, secure a job and contribute to Australian society."
Greens immigration spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young said the Abbott government's refusal to grant protection visas for people found to be refugees was "solely to blame". 
She said the government should increase asylum processing in the region and boost Australia's intake of refugees.
Executive director of the Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre David Manne said the onus was "squarely on the government to explain why so many people should be detained for so long".
"The government needs to come clean on this," he said.
Federal Immigration Minister Scott Morrison did not respond to requests for comment.