Almost seven years after Australia sent commandos onto a freighter at sea to block illegal immigrants, the Australian government yesterday said it would abandon a controversial policy of jailing asylum seekers.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans, whose center-left Labor government last year swept aside conservative rivals in power for a decade, said detention in often-remote immigration jails would now be used only as a last resort.

"Desperate people are not deterred by the threat of harsh detention. They are often fleeing much worse circumstances," Evans said in a speech at the Australian National University.