Hunger strikes don't change anything: PM ASYLUM seekers who go on hunger strikes or harm themselves won't get preferential treatment in the processing of their claims, Prime Minister Julia Gillard says. Immigration department documents reveal some asylum seekers attempted suicide within a month of being taken to the Australian government's offshore detention centre on Nauru, according to Fairfax Media. The documents obtained under freedom-of-information laws also said hunger strikes and self-harming became regular occurrences within four weeks. Ms Gillard warned asylum seekers in offshore processing centres that such acts wouldn't change the outcome of their cases. "Unfortunately, people sometimes take that step," she told reporters in Canberra on Monday. It doesn't get you anywhere. The only thing that happens for people in our asylum-seeker facilities is there is a proper assessment of whether or not they are a genuine refugee. The Labor government had made sure mental health support services were available, she added. Australian Greens immigration spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young said the government's border protection policies were cruel. "They are unacceptable for a humane nation such as Australia to be putting refugees into these conditions," she told reporters in Canberra. The first asylum seekers were transferred to reopened detention facilities in Nauru last September, under a government plan to stem the flow of boat arrivals in Australian waters. A second centre is operating on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island.