Demonstrators have rallied in Perth and Melbourne against Australia's decade-long policy of offshore detention for refugees seeking asylum by boat.
Human rights activists are calling on the Albanese government to shutter detention centres in Nauru and Papua New Guinea that incarcerated refugees in a deal struck by then prime minister Kevin Rudd in July 2013.
More than 3000 people have been detained on the Pacific island nations over the past decade.
Refugee Action Collective Victoria's Lieke Janssen, an organiser of Melbourne's rally, believes the government has a responsibility to act.
"It was a Labor government that actually introduced this policy," she said.
"This 10-year anniversary marks the perfect moment to demand the current Labor government gets rid of these policies once and for all."
Speakers who shared testimonies on Saturday included Melbourne-based Iranian-Kurdish artist Farhad Bandesh, who was detained on Manus Island in PNG for six years.
Other rallies are planned for Sunday including in Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra.
Sanmati Verma, managing lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, described the Australian offshore detention regime as "a system of calculated cruelty which is now being exported to other parts of the world to torture and punish people seeking safety."
Australia removed all asylum seekers from Nauru last month but will keep the empty centre open at a cost of $350 million per year.
About 80 asylum seekers remain in PNG.
"Every person sent to Nauru or PNG has lost years of their lives and been separated from loved ones because of the intentionally punitive policies of successive Australian governments," Ms Verma said.
The Department of Home Affairs has repeatedly maintained that its policies towards asylum seekers who arrive by boat has not changed.
This entails that they be transferred and processed in offshore facilities and offered no chance to resettle in Australia.
There are also more than 1100 people in immigration detention across Australia.
