It calls for all remaining asylum seeker children to be brought to Australia immediately, citing medical concerns as the driving factor.

The bill would also require the urgent evacuation to Australia of any asylum seeker or refugee on Nauru or Manus Island who is either psychologically or physically ill, on the recommendation of two or more treating doctors.

"It is incredibly important we put this matter back in the hands of the medical profession and the government gets out of the way," Dr Phelps, the independent who claimed Wentworth from the Liberal Party in October, said.

The issue was fundamental in Dr Phelps's victory with recent polling indicating a majority of Australians are uncomfortable with the mandatory offshore detention policy. The Kids Off Nauru movement presented a petition signed by 170,000 people to Parliament late last month.

Dr Phelps's bill was introduced into the lower house on the same day Medicins Sans Frontiers released a damning report on mental health conditions on Nauru.

MSF doctors were recently ordered to leave the island by local authorities after treating 208 asylum seekers and refugees over an 11 month period. The medical team also provided mental health services to the island community.

MSF Australia executive director, Paul McPhun, said the asylum seekers were at the bottom end of the scale it uses to assess mental health. "It's far worse than we see often in projects where we're treating victims of torture," he said.

While almost half of the Nauruan locals who were treated responded positively to treatment, only 11 per cent of asylum seeker and refugee patients demonstrated a similar outcome. At least a dozen detainees were diagnosed with resignation syndrome.

Australia's ethical position on this policy, which currently has bi-partisan support, is terrible. We have shown we are willing to commit abuse that has been likened to torture in order to protect what some perceive as our national interest.

Given, if Wentworth is anything to go by, refugee policy appears likely to emerge as an election issue, it would be wise for both the ALP and the Coalition to revisit their positions.