Prime Minister Tony Abbott has rejected a call for a wide-ranging public inquiry into children in detention following the release of a disturbing human rights report saying it is a "transparent stitch-up", but the matter may still be examined by the royal commission into child sexual abuse.

Mr Abbott rejected the Australian Human Rights Commission's recommendation for a royal commission into the treatment of children in mainland and offshore detention.

The commission's report, The Forgotten Children, revealed alarming rates of physical and sexual abuse in Australian centres.

It found that of 33 incidents of reported sexual assault, the majority involved children. It also found 207 incidences of "actual self harm". The commission will relay its findings to the royal commission into child sexual abuse.

A spokeswoman for the sex abuse royal commission said it was considering the findings of the report although its jurisdiction was limited to Australia.

But Mr Abbott quashed a proposal into a royal commission into children in detention in question time in federal parliament on Thursday.

"There won't be a Royal Commission into children in detention, because if there were . . .  it would condemn [Labor]," he said.

He used question time to also continue his sustained attack on the Human Rights Commission, saying the inquiry was part of a "transparent stitch-up".

"I say to the Human Rights Commission if you are concerned about real human rights, real human decency, real compassion, real compassion for people, you should be writing congratulating letters to the former minister for Immigration and Border Protection."

Australian Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs repeated the call for a royal commission, while angrily responding to Mr Abbott's claim that the report was an attack on the government.

Professor Triggs said the report, which has also exposed high rates of physical and mental illness in child detainees, was even-handed.

"The commission is doing its job," she said.

"We are doing our job under our statute and under the law. I can assure the Australian public that this is not a politicised exercise. It is a fair-minded report.

"I totally reject any suggestions that this report is a politicised exercise."

The 15-month inquiry involved interviews with more than 1000 children and their families.

Children in detention were also invited to tell their story. One Iranian girl from a family with six children wrote from the Sydney Detention Centre: "We are suffocating like a fish that is kept out of water. Our two younger brothers are detainees since birth and we have spent most of our life in detention."

"Only to make things worse for us, the immigration department has separated us from our dad within the same detention centre for almost one a half year. We have been threatened, mentally tortured, discriminated and provoked against all the time we have been in this dark cage."

In another statement tendered to the inquiry, an former HSC student at Holroyd High, Bashir Yousufi, said his memories continue to haunt him.

"If you're in Afghanistan [and] the Taliban want to kill, they just shoot at you and you will die easily. But in Australia, they will kill you slowly with your mind."

Solicitor Sarah Dale who works with unaccompanied minors in both detention and the community said: "We are seeing children who have fled torture and trauma in war torn areas, children who have lost family members and some who witnessed the death of their family members. Some children have been in detention for 17 months."

"They have really arrived in Australia to face a life of instability and uncertainty."

In releasing the report, which was tabled late on Wednesday night, Professor Triggs said both Labor and Coalition policies had failed the children.

"Both sides of politics are responsible for breaches of our international obligations," she said.

"Alternatives to indefinite detention, such as community detention, have not been properly considered by government decision makers."

Professor Triggs also rejected an assertion by federal Attorney-General that the problem of children in detention has been "largely solved" by the Abbott government.

There are 211 children in detention in centres in Australia and 119 being held indefinitely on Nauru.

"The facts speak for themselves – 330 children and their families remain in indefinite detention," she said.

"The most compassionate response is that those children be released as soon as it is reasonably safe to do so."

She said she hoped the government would accept the Human Rights Commission's recommendations to release the children and amend legislation to reduce time in detention to a limited period.

The proposed Royal Commission would examine the long term physical and mental impacts of detention; the reasons for using this policy since 1992; and remedies for any breaches of the rights of children that have been detained.

"The Australian people are behind this," she said.

"What the public wants is for the children to be treated in a more humane way. Governments do respond to public concerns. Australia is ashamed of this policy."

Former Liberal prime minister Malcom Fraser condemned the government. "The government's response is a disgrace. It is based on a lie. They claim to have saved lives by stopping the boats and that the trauma inflicted on children by detaining them, is a small price to pay. They deliberately chose an inhumane way of stopping the boats."

Some recommendations from The Forgotten Children report:

- All children and families in detention in Australia and Nauru should be released

- Limit length of detention for children and parents

- Fast-track processing of refugees claims

- Close Christmas Island detention centre

- Appoint independent guardians for unaccompanied children seeking asylum

-Children currently in detention should continue to be assessed at regular periods

-Children detained at any time since 1992 should have access to government-funded mental health services

-Families and unaccompanied children in detention should receive information about free legal advice

- A royal commission should be established