Refugee advocates argue Iraq is still too unstable

They were offered up to $10,000 (US $6,000) each, along with the cost of the air fare, after the fall of the Taleban.

The Australian authorities have said no-one will be forced to return home, but refugee campaigners have said talk of repatriating Iraqi refugees is "premature in the extreme".

The move comes as activists have clashed with police during a weekend of protests at a migrant detention facility in South Australia, aimed at bringing pressure on the government's system of mandatory detention.

Protests are continuing in South Australia

The BBC's correspondent in Sydney, Phil Mercer, says there are more than 4,000 Iraqi refugees in Australia and that the government hopes the plan under discussion will persuade many of them to return home.

Australia's Immigration Minister, Philip Ruddock, has insisted many Iraqis would want to return to help their country recover from the war and rebuild after years of dictatorship.

But our correspondent says the scheme for Afghans has not been popular and only a handful of people have returned home.

Facility stormed

Refugee advocates are concerned about the proposed scheme, arguing that Iraq is simply too unstable to even think about repatriating asylum seekers.

They have accused the authorities of attempting to bribe people to return home.

Demonstrators have been blocked by mounted police

Meanwhile, at Australia's newest detention centre for asylum seekers about 260 kilometres (160 miles) north of Adelaide, demonstrators have continued to clash with police.

On Saturday night, protesters tried to storm the Baxter detention centre, which holds 300 migrants awaiting deportation, assistant commissioner Graham Brown said.

"Despite numerous attempts by protesters overnight... to achieve their aim of breaching the security of the centre, the police at the front line held their ground," he said.

"This was despite the fact that they (police) had crude weapons used against them such as rocks and containers filled with some form of liquid," he added.

Seventeen people were arrested, bringing the total arrested at the site this weekend to 29.

The Baxter facility opened last year after the camp at Woomera, which was the scene of violent protests last Easter, was taken out of use.