A fight over computer access sparked a brawl at a Melbourne detention centre after almost 100 unaccompanied Afghani minors were transferred there over the weekend.
About 50 teenagers were involved in Sunday night's brawl, which broke out in a common room at the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation facility in the outer-west suburb of Broadmeadows.
There were a number of separate scuffles in the dining room, an immigration department spokesman said.
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Seven of the boys, aged about 15-18, were taken to hospital suffering cuts and bruises, with one remaining there overnight.
Furniture and windows were broken with police helping to restore order after about 30 minutes when the boys returned to their rooms, the spokesman said.
Labor MP Maria Vamvakinou, whose federal seat of Calwell takes in Broadmeadows, said the brawl was disappointing but not a massive setback to the facility's expansion.
The brawl between new and old detainees was sparked by a fight over computer access, after 98 unaccompanied Afghan minors were transferred to the centre from the Christmas Island detention centre over the weekend.
They added to the 38 unaccompanied boys already there.
The transfer was the first instalment of Immigration Minister Chris Bowen's September plan to expand the Melbourne centre, along with two others in Western Australia and Queensland, to cope with Australia's increased number of detained asylum seekers.
Ms Vamvakinou was told the centre had not had time to wire up extra computers for the new arrivals.
But she did not think the expansion had been rushed and she had seen adequate living and common quarters set up for the new arrivals. Portable buildings have also been erected over the last 10 weeks.
"The idea is to get people accommodated physically and I think in that sense it was ready, perhaps this other IT stuff might have been a secondary issue, but I don't think it was rushed," Ms Vamvakinou said.
The Broadmeadows centre was set up several years ago as a low security immigration facility to accommodate families on a short-stay basis.
However Ms Vamvakinou said all 136 detainees at the centre were now boys without their families, aged 14-18.
Despite long-standing community opposition to a detention centre, Ms Vamvakinou said locals had been working hard to make the centre a positive place.
She said 120 boys from Melbourne schools regularly played soccer with the detainees, other community groups also visited and the boys were taken to and from school to learn English.
"There is a lot of goodwill, we hope that in the coming months to increase community interaction, which I think is really important," Ms Vamvakinou told AAP.
"I don't see it as a massive setback, but certainly, I'm not silly, I can see the headlines."
Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said mandatory detention created an unsafe environment for detainees, especially unaccompanied minors.
"We know that when people are detained for long periods of time tensions rise," she told reporters in Canberra.
"We really need to ensure that there is a better system."