Kelvin Davis told riot on the cards

Kelvin Davis spent a week visiting Christmas Island.

When Te Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis visited Christmas Island in October he was told by detainees there could be rioting - this week that happened.

Mr Davis, who is also Labour's Corrections spokesman, had visited the detention centre in October and talked to Kiwi detainees about the trauma of being locked up. He returned to New Zealand only two or three weeks ago.

He said none of the six out of 40 Kiwi detainees he spoke to were from Northland.

Te Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis

Before Monday's riots, Mr Davis said he had received a text from a detainee who said another detainee had climbed the fence and died in the jungle.

Then at about 4.30am he received a call from the same detainee saying riots had kicked off.

"He said it was going off, people were rioting. He said a guard had assaulted an asylum seeker in medical and he retaliated and others joined in and it grew from there."

Mr Davis had spent a week on Christmas Island talking to detainees and building a rapport with them.

He believed the riot was spur of the moment, rather than a planned event.

"They said because of how they are treated, they are scared and if push came to shove there'd be riots. They said if a guard abused an inmate, then it could set it off and that's what happened."

Mr Davis said on Monday a Christmas Island detainee had called him to say the riot squad were preparing to come in.

"A lot of them had gone back to cells to barricade themselves in because they were scared of being beaten."

A law change in Australia means foreign nationals automatically have their visas revoked if they have convictions with penalties totalling more than 12 months in prison.

Mr Davis said some of the Kiwis being detained had lived in Australia since they were toddlers.

He was concerned about the safety of the detainees.

Yesterday, Mr Davis said all communication with detainees had been lost after the riot police stormed in.