By Phil Mercer In Sydney

Australia is to expand a programme to allow more women and children asylum seekers to live in the community rather than being locked away behind razor wire fences.

Children arriving in Australia on their own claiming to be refugees will now not be sent to detention centres, except in unusual circumstances, said Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock.

Refugee advocates say the moves are welcome but do not go far enough.

They say it is unfair to separate fathers from their families, and say many women and their children have decided not to live in the community for this reason.

A trial scheme allowing eligible women and children to leave detention centres and live in supervised residential homes will be expanded, Mr Ruddock announced.

The authorities believe the trial scheme at Woomera, in the South Australian desert, has shown the risks of asylum seekers absconding from community accommodation are low.

Labor's plans

Under the trial, about 18 women and children were allowed to leave detention centres and live in supervised residential homes. Mr Ruddock said plans were being made to set up similar schemes in two other outback towns.

Rights groups have criticised conditions at the camps

Meanwhile, Australia's opposition Labor Party has announced a revamp of its immigration policies. If it won power, the party plans to close the Woomera detention centre and allow its detainees to live in supervised hostel accommodation.

The party, however, has stopped short of abandoning the mandatory detention of asylum seekers.

Labour leader, Simon Crean, has said his party would shut down Australia's off-shore refugee camps on Nauru and Papua New Guinea, although Christmas Island, a remote territory in the Indian Ocean, would be maintained as a processing centre.

The conservative government has said Labor's proposals would only encourage more asylum seekers to head for Australia.