The Prime Minister has dismissed a disturbing report on the state of hundreds of children in Australian detention centres.

The Australian Human Rights Commission has released its report on children in detention, which revealed that over 300 children had committed or threatened self-harm in a 15-month period.

In addition to self-harm, 30 children reported incidences of sexual assault, nearly 30 went on hunger strike and more than 200 were involved in other assaults.

The report makes 16 recommendations to improve the distressing conditions imposed in the name of all Australians.

They call for the release of all children in detention within four weeks, and the implementation of a royal commission.

“It is the fact of detention, particularly the deprivation of liberty and the high numbers of mentally unwell adults, that is causing emotional and developmental disorders amongst children,” the report said.

“Children are exposed to danger by their close confinement with adults who suffer high levels of mental illness. Thirty per cent of adults detained with children have moderate to severe mental illnesses.

“Children on Nauru are suffering from extreme levels of physical, emotional, psychological and developmental distress. The commission is concerned that detention on Nauru is mandatory for children and there is no time limit on how long they will be detained,” the Human Rights Commission found.

The violent and abhorrent treatment is being allowed and even contributed to by private contractors hired on behalf of Australian citizens.

But the Prime Minister has all but brushed aside the report, saying it is a “blatantly partisan exercise”.

Tony Abbott was asked on Fairfax radio if he felt any guilt over the findings.

“None whatsoever,” the Prime Minister replied.

“The most compassionate thing you can do is stop the boats,” Abbott said.

“Where was the Human Rights Commission when hundreds of people were drowning at sea [under Labor]?

“The Human Rights Commission ought to be ashamed of itself.

“I reckon that the Human Rights Commission ought to send a note of congratulations to Scott Morrison to say ‘well done, mate’,” Abbott said.

“I think there’s a lot within this report that is either dated or questionable,” immigration minister Peter Dutton told reporters on Thursday.

“If there was a need for this report, it really should have been done under Labor’s watch when tens of thousands of people came over our border.”

Even if the information is outdated, all of the conditions under which the abusive treatment was reported still exist, and many of the children in the report have been in the same circumstance since the change of government.

Human Rights Commissioner Gillian Triggs has defended the report against the prime minister’s claims.

“I can assure you and the Australian public that this is not a politicised exercise,” she said.

“It is a fair minded report and I ask all Australians to read the report and you will see that the evidence on which we rely is evidence that covers the period of the former government as well as the nearly 18 months of the current government.

“So I totally reject any suggestion that this report is a politicised exercise. The facts frankly speak for themselves and this report speaks for itself.’’

The Greens want the report’s 16 recommendations taken up immediately.

“No longer can we turn a blind eye to the sexual, physical and psychological abuse that these policies of indefinite detention are inflicting on children,” Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

“This isn’t about political parties or a particular government, this about us in the Parliament doing what’s right for vulnerable children. MPs must exercise their conscience and bring an end to the indefinite incarceration of children.”