Doctors' trip to Nauru in doubt

Australian Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone yesterday cast doubt on whether an Australian medical team would travel to Nauru.

A month-long hunger strike by 33 immigration detainees on Nauru ended on Thursday when protesters learned a team of doctors planned to visit the island.

Senator Vanstone reacted coolly to a call for the Government to help with travel expenses for the doctors from the Professional Alliance for the Health of Asylum-Seekers.

"These doctors arrange for themselves [to visit Nauru] and then turn around and say: 'Oh, by the way, we think the Government should pay'."