Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has stressed that the United States resettlement deal is a "one-off" and will only apply to refugees currently held in the Manus Island and Nauru detention centres, including those temporarily in Australia for medical care.
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Mr Dutton has also put pressure on Opposition Leader Bill Shorten over the proposed lifetime visa ban on asylum seeker boat arrivals, arguing Mr Shorten "says he is a unity ticket with the government and then votes against us".
The government attack on Labor comes as a senior Indonesian official has expressed concerns that the US deal "is a breath of fresh air for people smugglers," according to The Australian, predicting that they will be monitoring the situation closely.
"Our policy has been very clear. That is the US deal that we have announced will not apply under any circumstance to new arrivals. I don't care where people are coming from, I don't care what their circumstance is. They will not be settling in this country," he said.
Labor has welcomed the announcement of the deal with the Obama administration but voted against the lifetime ban last week, arguing it is unnecessary and would block genuine refugees from visiting Australia as tourists in decades to come.
"Mr Shorten is out there trying to throw around red herrings that this will be a problem in 30, 40 years when people want to come to Australia and apply for a tourist visa," Mr Dutton said.
"This government is dealing with the threat to our country over the next three or four days, three or four weeks, three or four months. This people of people smugglers is with us. It is tangible.
"We have 14,000 people in Indonesia waiting to get on to boats now. We need to have this legislation in place so we can stare down the threat from the people smugglers."
The Immigration Minister said the Labor leader "talks a big game" but "has turned out to be a weaker leader than even Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd when it comes to our response of staring down people smugglers".
It is not known how many refugees from Nauru and Manus Island will ultimately be resettled. Priority will be placed on children, women and families and they will be subject to strict health and security checks.
Paris Aristotle, the pre-eminent adviser to both sides of politics on refugees issues over the past two decades, told ABC's Lateline program on Monday night that he did not see the lifetime ban as necessary.
"Once people are resettled elsewhere, their ability to claim protection here in Australia dissipates," he said.
