The Immigration Minister has ruled out a "people swap" deal with the United States to resettle Manus Island and Nauru detainees in exchange for Australia's offer to accept Central American refugees.
Overnight, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull agreed at a special summit in New York to take refugees from a resettlement centre in Costa Rica as part of a US-led program.
Most of them are from the so-called Northern Triangle - Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador - three of the most violent countries in the world.
Nearly ten per cent of the region's thirty million residents have fled because of extortion, rape and forced gang recruitment.
There is no detail on the numbers of Central Americans Australia will take, but the announcement led to speculation that this could be the start of some sort of deal to resettle the almost two thousand asylum seekers on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and Nauru.
However Coalition MPs have been quick to clarify that won't be the case.
"There will not be a people swap" the Special Minister of State Scott Ryan told the ABC.
Former Immigration Minister and now Treasurer Scott Morrison told Sky News he didn't know why such a deal was being speculated about.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton's office also officially ruled such a potential move out.
"Speculation that it may be linked to an arrangement with the US or any other country or that this is part of a "people swap" is false," a spokeswoman for the Immigration Minister said.
The Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said taking refugees from Central America doesn't deal with "the elephant in the room".
"The fact is that we have nearly 2,000 people trapped in almost indefinite detention on Manus and Nauru.
"When will the Turnbull Government actually negotiate a regional resettlement arrangement with another nation so that we're not keeping people in indefinite detention?" Mr Shorten said.
The Greens immigration spokesman Senator Nick McKim was also critical.
“The fate of our fellow human beings on Manus and Nauru is a humanitarian crisis created in Australia’s name, and remains a weeping sore on Australia’s international reputation, but neither Mr Turnbull nor Mr Dutton seem to have any idea how to respond.”
Mr Dutton's office said the government won't be running public commentary on media speculation regarding Manus and Nauru.
"The Government has been working with a number of countries to provide settlement for people currently in Nauru and Manus Island," the spokeswoman said.
The lesson of Operation Sovereign Borders' success is that public speculation only serves the interest of people smugglers by giving them false hope to pedal to unsuspecting clients."
The initiative was revealed alongside a commitment by Australia to maintain its increased refugees resettlement intake at 18,750 from mid-2018, up from about 14,000 now.
Australia will also commit a further $130m over three years to support peace building and assistance to refugees, forcibly displaced communities and host countries.
with AAP
