"We don't have any choice," Bjarne Hakon Hanssen told Aftenposten in Oslo. Hanssen meanwhile said he was trying to stem the flood of asylum seekers.

More than 3,000 refugees have arrived in Norway since New Year's, double the number last year.

The tent proposal has sparked outcry from refugee advocates and was soundly criticized on national television after details were revealed.

But Hanssen said he believes that Norway is spending far too much money on asylum seekers who have no real need for refuge. The tents, he says, are viewed as a means of temporarily housing asylum seekers until their cases can be reviewed.