A Victorian man has filmed the moment he was able to walk into an unlocked bank branch on New Year's Day.</s>Whether Trump honors the deal Australia reached with the outgoing Obama administration, and announced earlier this month, will provide an early test of Trump's anti-immigration stance.

Campaigning for the presidency, Trump had started by advocating a blanket ban on Muslims entering the United States, but later adjusted his stance to propose that the ban should apply to people from nations that had been "compromised by terrorism".

Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Sunday that the United States had agreed to take a "substantial" number of those held on Manus Island and Nauru. Many of them are Muslims who have fled conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Under Australia's tough border security laws, asylum seekers intercepted trying to reach the country by boat are sent for processing at the camps on Papua New Guinea's Manus island and Nauru.

The resettlement deal with United States came after Turnbull's government agreed in September to accept people from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador as part of Australia's annual intake of 18,750 asylum seekers, to support a resettlement plan for Central Americans drawn up by Washington.

Turnbull said on Monday the first refugees to be resettled in the United States will not come before the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Trump.

"The process will continue for some months. The United States won't be short-cutting their security or health checks," said Turnbull.

Analysts said the timing could prove awkward for Turnbull.

"It looks pretty clear that the resettlement deal was done as a quid pro quo after Australia agreed to resettle Central American refugees," said Peter Chen, professor of political science, University of Sydney.

"But by holding off and starting the process in the expectation that Hillary Clinton would win the U.S. presidency, it gives Trump the ability to reject the deal."

Over the weekend, Trump said his administration would deport up to 3 million immigrants in the country illegally who have criminal records. While campaigning, Trump said he would deport 11 million illegal immigrants.

Should Trump veto the deal with Australia, the detainees would be left with the choice of returning to their home countries or remaining in Nauru or Papua New Guinea.

A veto would force Turnbull to search for another country willing to take them while facing growing outrage both at home and internationally over the treatment of the refugees.

Turnbull said he remained confident that the new U.S. administration would stand by the deal, stressing that it didn't require any increase in the United States' annual intake of asylum seekers.</s>Under Australia's tough border security laws, asylum seekers intercepted trying to reach the country by boat are sent for processing at detention camps on Papua New Guinea's Manus island and the tiny South Pacific island nation of Nauru.

Some 1,200 people are currently held in the camps, many of whom have been held for more than three years.

“I can now confirm that the Government has reached a further third country resettlement arrangement for refugees presently in the regional processing centres. The agreement is with the United States,” Turnbull told a press conference in Canberra.

The agreement, to be administered with the UN High Commission on Refugees, is available only to those currently in the processing centres and will not be repeated.

Turnbull would not say exactly how many refugees would be resettled in the United States, but said women, children and families would be prioritized.

Detainees who have had applications for refugee status rejected should return to their countries, he said.

Australia's offshore detention policy for 'boat people' has drawn widespread condemnation both at home and overseas amid reports of harsh conditions and systemic child abuse.

The deal relieves a major headache for Turnbull, whose poll numbers fell to a 14-month low last week, raising speculation of fresh political turbulence in a country that has had four leaders in six years.

Abdul Aziz, 24, who has spent more than three years on Manus Island after fleeing his home in Sudan in 2013, was very happy.

“All the refugees were smiling and hugging each other. This nightmare is going to end finally, but the main question is when and how and how we get out of here,” he told Reuters.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters while visiting New Zealand on Sunday: "We in the United States have agreed to consider referrals from UNHCR on refugees now residing in Nauru and in Papua New Guinea.”

The election of Donald Trump, who has threatened to ban Muslims from entering the United States and championed anti-immigration policies, has injected uncertainty into the deal.

But Turnbull said the "agreement was reached some time ago. There is a great deal of preparation and planning that has gone into it and, indeed, in leading up to this announcement."

No timeline was given for the process.

Amnesty International last month said as many of 410 men, women and children held on Nauru are being driven to the brink as a result of treatment that amounted to "torture".

Papua New Guinea has said it will close the Manus Island center, but the Nauru facility will remain open.

Asylum seekers who refuse offers to resettle in a third country or to return home will be offered a 20-year visa to stay on Nauru, but no financial support, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said.

Once rich in phosphate, Nauru has limited economic resources and the Australian-funded detention center provides the tiny island state’s most significant revenue stream.</s>CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The United States has agreed to resettle an unspecified number of refugees languishing in Pacific island camps in a deal that is expected to inspire more asylum seekers to attempt to reach Australia by boat, officials said on Sunday.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull would not say whether he had discussed the deal with President-elect Donald Trump during their telephone conversation on Thursday. The Obama administration had agreed to resettle refugees among almost 1,300 asylum seekers held at Australia’s expense on the island nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea. Another 370 who came to Australia for medical treatment then refused to return to the islands would also be eligible.

“We deal with one administration at a time and there is only one president of the United States at a time,” Turnbull told reporters.

Trump has called for a moratorium or tight restrictions on Muslim immigration. Most of the asylum seekers are Muslims from the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry confirmed that the United States had “agreed to consider referrals” from the United Nations refugee agency on Australia’s refugees.

“We are going to work to protect vulnerable refugees around the world, and we’ll share that responsibility with our friends in the regions that are most affected by this challenge,” Kerry told reporters in New Zealand.

Australia refuses to resettle any refugee who has arrived by boat since the date the tough policy was announced on July 19, 2013.

Australia pays Nauru and Papua New Guinea to house boat arrivals and has been searching for countries that will resettle them.

Few refugees have accepted offers to resettle in Papua New Guinea and Cambodia because most hope that Australia will eventually take them in.

Any refugee who refuses to go to the U.S. would be given a 20-year visa to stay on Nauru, a tiny impoverished atoll with a population of 10,000 people, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials are expected in Australia this week to begin assessing refugees.

Turnbull would not say how many refugees the United States might take, but said the most vulnerable would be given priority.

“Our priority is the resettlement of woman, children and families,” Turnbull said. “This will be an orderly process. It will take time. It will not be rushed.”

Refugees who arrive in the future would not be sent to the United States, he said.

“We anticipate that people smugglers will seek to use this agreement as a marketing opportunity to tempt vulnerable people onto these perilous sea journeys,” Turnbull said. “We have put in place the largest and most capable maritime surveillance and response fleet Australia has ever deployed.”

Australian Border Force Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg said ships had been positioned to turn boats back to Indonesia if asylum seekers attempt to reach Australia in the hope of being sent to the U.S.

No people smuggling operation has successfully delivered asylum seekers to Australia by boat since July 2014.

Turnbull announced at Obama’s Leaders’ Summit on Refugees in September that Australia would participate in the U.S.-led program to resettle Central American refugees from a camp in Costa Rica. Australia would also increase its refugee intake by 5,000 to 18,750 a year.

Turnbull said at the time that the agreement to resettle Hondurans and El Salvadoreans was “not linked to any other resettlement discussions” involving Australia’s refugees getting to the U.S.

Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said some refugees on Nauru were “hopeful” of resettlement in the United States, but were frustrated by the lack of detail. There seemed no short-term hope for asylum seekers on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island, a male-only camp holding 873 men.

“There are some people who if the United States is offered to them, certainly they will take it,” Rintoul said, adding that several would prefer Australia where they had family.

Rights groups have been scathing about conditions on the island immigration camps. Two asylum seekers set themselves on fire on Nauru this year and two local men have been convicted of murdering an Iranian asylum seeker during a 2004 riot at the Manus Island camp.

Associated Press writer Nick Perry in Wellington, New Zealand, contributed to this report.</s>CANBERRA, Australia -- Australia says the United States has agreed to resettle an unspecified number of asylum seekers being held on the Pacific islands of Papua New Guinea and Nauru.

The agreement is a one-off that will be available only to the 1,300 people currently in processing centers and to the 370 who went to Australia for medical treatment, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said in Canberra on Sunday. The priority will be the resettlement of women, children and families, and it would exclude those deemed to be economic refugees, he said.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry confirmed that the United States had "agreed to consider referrals" from the United Nations refugee agency on Australia's refugees.

"We are going to work to protect vulnerable refugees around the world, and we'll share that responsibility with our friends in the regions that are most affected by this challenge," Kerry told reporters in New Zealand.

The resettlement deal was struck with the administration of President Barack Obama, Turnbull said, adding that he did not tell President-elect Donald Trump that the United States had agreed to the deal. Turnbull and Trump spoke by phone on Thursday.

"We deal with one administration at a time, and you don't discuss confidential matters with one administration with a future administration," Turnbull told Nine Network television.

Turnbull could not say whether the refugees would be resettled before the Trump administration takes over on Jan. 20. U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials are expected in Australia this week to begin assessing migrants and refugees, including health and security checks, to decide who will be resettled.

The Australian prime minister also refused to speculate on how Trump's election victory might affect the deal. Most of the asylum seekers are Muslims from the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and Trump has called for a moratorium or tight restrictions on Muslim immigration.

Turnbull said negotiations began with a conversation he had with Obama in January.

Turnbull's Liberal-National coalition won power in 2013 vowing to stop a surge of refugees, some of whom drowned attempting to arrive in Australia by sea, often ferried in rickety boats by people-smugglers from Indonesia.

Australia takes in migrants and refugees each year, but it has refused to resettle any refugee who has arrived by boat since its new policy was announced on July 19, 2013. It pays Nauru and Papua New Guinea to house boat arrivals and has been searching for countries that will resettle them, but few asylum seekers have accepted offers to resettle in Papua New Guinea or Cambodia because most hope that Australia will eventually take them in.

While the policy of sending asylum seekers to the Pacific islands has halted the flow of migrants and cut the number of people drowning at sea, it has been condemned by the United Nations for breaching human rights.

In an effort to deter boat arrivals resuming, Turnbull said resettlement will not be offered to any future asylum seekers. Any refugee who refuses to go to the United States would be given a 20-year visa to stay on Nauru, an 8-square-mile atoll with a population of 10,000 people, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said.

The government will also deploy the largest maritime surveillance and response effort in peacetime to intercept and turn back boats, Turnbull said at a media conference in Sydney early today.

"We anticipate that people smugglers will seek to use this agreement as a marketing opportunity to tempt vulnerable people onto these perilous sea journeys," Turnbull said, insisting that Australia's border protection policy has not changed.

"We need to send the clearest and most unequivocal message to people smugglers and their would-be passengers that if they seek to come to Australia unlawfully, they will not succeed," he said.

Turnbull announced at Obama's Leaders' Summit on Refugees in September that Australia would participate in the U.S.-led program to resettle Central American migrants from a camp in Costa Rica. Australia would also increase its intake of other migrants and refugees by 5,000 to 18,750 a year.

Turnbull said at the time that the agreement to resettle Hondurans and Salvadorans was "not linked to any other resettlement discussions" involving Australia's refugees getting to the United States.

Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said some refugees on Nauru were "hopeful" of resettlement in the United States, but were frustrated by the lack of details. There seemed no short-term hope for asylum seekers on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island, a male-only camp holding 873 men.

"There are some people who, if the United States is offered to them, certainly they will take it," Rintoul said, adding that several would prefer Australia where they have family.

Papua New Guinea said it will close the Manus Island processing center in April after the nation's Supreme Court ruled detaining the refugees was unconstitutional.

"This is a critically important step" to enabling the camp to be closed, Turnbull told Channel Nine television on Monday.

The agreement was welcomed by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

"The approach taken by Australia in transferring refugees and asylum-seekers to open-ended detention in Papua New Guinea and Nauru has caused immense harm to vulnerable people who have sought asylum since 2013," the agency said in a statement on Sunday, saying the deal "reflects a much-needed, long-term solution."

Information for this article was contributed by Peter Vercoe of Bloomberg News; and by Rod McGuirk and Nick Perry of The Associated Press.</s>Alex Reilly is the deputy dean and director of the Public Law and Policy Research Unit at the University of Adelaide's Adelaide Law School. The views expressed in this commentary are his alone.

(CNN) The Australian government has announced a new deal , long-expected in policy circles, that will see asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island transferred to the United States.

This is the first positive news in three years for asylum seekers and refugees on Nauru and Manus Island. It is a circuit breaker that has received support from the country's Labor party.

However, it is worth observing that this could only be considered a good deal in a world where developed countries have a strong aversion to receiving asylum seeker claims at their borders.

In a rational world, Central Americans on the border of the US would be settled in the US and Afghans, Iraqis, Iranians and Sri Lankans placed on Nauru and Manus by the Australian government should be resettled in Australia.

However, by any measure, the refugees involved would see the US deal as far better than spending any more time in Australia's offshore detention centers.

The US offers these refugees the protection of a sophisticated constitutional and legal system. It's a gross exaggeration to suggest Donald Trump's America could be anywhere near as unsafe as the conditions that refugees flee.

Nonetheless, the transition to the US will not be easy, and is made considerably more difficult by the fact that some of these people have been detained under very stressful conditions for as much as three and a half years. Many spirits have been broken. These refugees will need considerable help in resettling successfully.

The whole point of offshore detention and processing was to send a strong message that it was not worth taking a boat bound for Australia. The government was happy to pursue, in a half-hearted and expensive way, resettlement options in Cambodia, Papua New Guinea and Nauru. These were not viewed as attractive resettlement options.

But the condition of asylum seekers and refugees on Nauru and Manus under Australia's care soon became an international embarrassment. With whistleblowers, journalists, doctors, civil society organisations in Australia, international NGOs and the government's own Human Rights Commission keeping the spotlight on conditions on Manus and Nauru, the government eventually had to find a durable solution for asylum seekers and refugees.

An encouragement for people smugglers? Not likely

From 2002 to 2004, the Howard government resettled refugees on Nauru in Australia, and this did not lead to a resumption of boat arrivals. The threat of offshore detention is an enormous disincentive. Furthermore, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has been very clear the US arrangement is a one-off deal. Anyone who subsequently arrives on Nauru or Manus will face the uncertainty of if and when they will be resettled.

The announcement today that refugees must accept any resettlement option presented to them or face 20 years on Nauru or return to their country of origin where they fled persecution may be reasonable if a durable resettlement option is offered, such as is the case under the US deal.

The US deal is not contingent on legislation, now before parliament, for a lifetime ban on any people processed on Nauru and Manus since mid-2013 entering Australia. This is important as the ban is wrongly conceived, and has rightly been rejected by Labor.

It is already abundantly clear that asylum seekers arriving by boat will not be resettled in Australia. Whether they will be able to visit Australia in some other capacity later in their lives will not be high on an asylum seeker's list of concerns.

The effect of this bill is to punish for life an extremely vulnerable group of refugees, simply for the legitimate act of seeking protection and, in some cases, seeking reunification with family members.

Although it is possible for people in this position to apply to the minister to lift the ban, this may well turn out to be costly, time-consuming and complicated.

The government should be content to offer a good news story to the refugees on Nauru with its announcement of the US deal, rather than hitting them with a final punishment as they leave Australian government control to begin their new lives.</s>CANBERRA, Australia — The United States has agreed to resettle an unspecified number of refugees languishing in Pacific island camps in a deal that is expected to inspire more asylum seekers to attempt to reach Australia by boat, officials said on Sunday.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull would not say whether he had discussed the deal with President-elect Donald Trump during their telephone conversation on Thursday. The Obama administration had agreed to resettle refugees among almost 1,300 asylum seekers held at Australia's expense on the island nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea.

"We deal with one administration at a time and there is only one president of the United States at a time," Turnbull told reporters, adding that the deal was reached "some time ago."

Trump has called for a moratorium or tight restrictions on Muslim immigration. Most of the asylum seekers are Muslims from the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Australia refuses to resettle any refugee who has arrived by boat since the date the tough policy was announced on July 19, 2013.

Australia pays Nauru and Papua New Guinea to house boat arrivals and has been searching for countries that will resettle them.

Few refugees have accepted offers to resettle in Papua New Guinea and Cambodia because most hope that Australia will eventually take them in.

Turnbull said the United States had only agreed to resettle refugees already on Nauru and Papua New Guinea. Refugees who arrive in the future would not be sent to the United States.

"We anticipate that people smugglers will seek to use this agreement as a marketing opportunity to tempt vulnerable people onto these perilous sea journeys," Turnbull said.

"We have put in place the largest and most capable maritime surveillance and response fleet Australia has ever deployed," he added.

Australian Border Force Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg said ships had been positioned to turn boats back to Indonesia if asylum seekers attempt to reach Australia in the hope of being sent to the U.S.

No people smuggling operation has successfully delivered asylum seekers to Australia by boat since July 2014, but 29 boats have been turned back to Indonesia by the Australian navy.

Turnbull announced at Obama's Leaders' Summit on Refugees in September that Australia would participate in the U.S.-led program to resettle Central American refugees from a camp in Costa Rica. Australia would also increase its refugee intake by 5,000 to 18,750 a year.

Turnbull said at the time that the agreement to resettle Hondurans and El Salvadoreans was "not linked to any other resettlement discussions" involving Australia's refugees getting to the U.S.</s>Sydney, Australia-Refugees held on remote Pacific camps after trying to reach Australia by boat will be resettled in the US in a "one-off" deal, the premier says, a breakthrough that could see the controversial facilities closed.

Canberra sends asylum-seekers who try to reach Australia by boat to detention facilities on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island and Nauru. They are blocked from resettling in Australia even if found to be refugees.

"The arrangements with the United States will offer the opportunity for refugees, both on Nauru and Manus, to be resettled," Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told reporters in Canberra.

"It is a one-off agreement. It will not be repeated... Our priority is the resettlement of women, children and families."

Successive Australian governments have sought to stem waves of boat migration by people from war-torn Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and the Middle East, using harsh policies including turning back the vessels, and strict secrecy about operations on the high seas and at the remote camps.

Although the latest policies by the current conservative government largely stopped the arrivals, conditions in the camps have been widely criticised by refugee advocates and medical professionals.

They say some asylum-seekers suffer from mental health problems due to their prolonged, indefinite detention.

The UNHCR said the arrangement was a "much-needed, long-term solution" but warned that options should be found for everyone on Manus and Nauru.

"This announcement is full of holes. No timeframe. No numbers," added Daniel Webb from the Human Rights Law Centre, which has challenged offshore detention in court.

"This ugly chapter in our history only closes when every single man, woman and child suffering at our government's hand on Nauru and Manus is finally rebuilding their lives in safety. No one can be left behind."

The arrangement followed Turnbull's announcement in September that Australia would join a US-led programme to resettle Central American refugees at a Costa Rica centre.

Turnbull said officials from the US Department of Homeland Security would be arriving in Australia "in the next few days".

But he could not say how many refugees would be offered US resettlement and if the agreement would continue under the incoming Donald Trump administration.

President-elect Trump said on the campaign trail that he would tighten immigration, particularly for Muslims.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is in New Zealand, confirmed the deal, adding that "we in the United States have agreed to consider referrals from (UN refugee body) UNHCR on refugees now residing in Nauru and in Papua New Guinea".

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said asylum-seekers whose refugee applications are rejected would be expected to return home.

Refugees who are offered the US move but reject it would be offered a 20-year Nauru visa, while any future boat arrivals will not be eligible for the deal.

Dutton stressed the deal was not an incentive for people-smugglers to send more asylum-seekers by boat, with Canberra set to ramp up its marine border patrols to turn back vessels.</s>The plan is a "one-off agreement. It will not be repeated," Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said at a press conference.

Turnbull added that the deal would only be available "to those currently in the regional processing centers" and will prioritize "women, children and families."

Shirdel Eskandari Khah is one of them. He has a young son and has been on Nauru for two and a half years, and told CNN he is "really happy" about the deal.

come from the Middle East and South Asia, with Iran and Afghanistan providing the bulk of the refugees. come from the Middle East and South Asia, with Iran and Afghanistan providing the bulk of the refugees. The majority of the detainees come from the Middle East and South Asia, with Iran and Afghanistan providing the bulk of the refugees. Last month, Amnesty International accused the Australian government of turning Nauru into an " open-air prison ." have been documented at the centers. have been documented at the centers. Numerous human rights abuses have been documented at the centers. In October, a UN committee report found multiple cases of "attempted suicide, self-immolation, acts of self-harm and depression" among children who had lived in prolonged "detention-like conditions." Support for the offshore detention system -- which has cost Australia upwards of $7.3 billion, according to Amnesty -- remains strong in Canberra. Turnbull recently introduced new legislation that would prevent refugees and asylum seekers from ever settling in Australia if they came to the country by boat. During the general election earlier this year, opposition leader Bill Shorten pledged a "more humane and safer approach to asylum seekers," but his Labor party remains committed to offshore detention. Critics of the system operate under an " atmosphere of fear, censorship and retaliation ," a UN investigator warned last month. Growing up in detention: The children of Nauru An image on the Facebook site "Free the Children NAURU," uploaded in November, 2015, shows a small child with a tally of how long they have been on the island. Growing up in detention: The children of Nauru At the end of 2015, 537 people were being held in the Nauru detention center. Of those, 68 were children. Growing up in detention: The children of Nauru At the end of 2015, of the 1,792 people being held in Australian immigration facilities, 23.2% had been held for more than 730 days, or more than two years. Growing up in detention: The children of Nauru The children are being held on Nauru while their families' claims for asylum are processed. Many fled war-torn countries and entered Australian waters by boat. The Australian government says they'll never be resettled in the country. Growing up in detention: The children of Nauru Australia reopened its controversial offshore processing centers in 2012, after a surge in arrivals of unseaworthy boats. In 2013, families with children were transferred to Nauru until their claims could be processed. Growing up in detention: The children of Nauru The Australian government says the number of children in immigration detention centers dropped steadily between 2013 and 2015. However, numbers have leveled off since February 2015. Growing up in detention: The children of Nauru On average, detainees spend 445 days in detention facilities while their claims are processed, according to government figures. Growing up in detention: The children of Nauru The conditions endured by children at the Nauru detention facility have been the subject of a government inquiry, which investigated claims of sexual and physical abuse. Growing up in detention: The children of Nauru The Moss Review found that many asylum seekers in the detention center were apprehensive about their personal safety. It found that some instances of sexual and physical assault were not being reported. Growing up in detention: The children of Nauru The Australian government accepted all 19 recommendations made in the report. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton vowed to tighten security at the center, saying "I find the thought of anybody, in particular children, being sexually assaulted

 completely abhorrent." Speaking Sunday, Turnbull did not set out a time frame for the deal, nor did he offer any information on how many refugees would be covered by it. The deal will be administered by the UN High Commission on Refugees, Turnbull said, and "will take time." , the Human Rights Law Center criticized the government's announcement as being "full of holes." , the Human Rights Law Center criticized the government's announcement as being "full of holes." In a statement , the Human Rights Law Center criticized the government's announcement as being "full of holes." "No time frame. No numbers. No detail on what the government will do with the hundreds of innocent people who will be left behind. It's not a plan," HRLC's director of legal advocacy Daniel Webb said. "This ugly chapter in our history only closes when every single man, woman and child suffering at our government's hand on Nauru and Manus is finally rebuilding their lives in safety. No one can be left behind." Oxfam Australia issued a statement calling on the government to "bring to Australia anyone not covered by the agreement with the United States." A protester holds a sign calling for the closure of offshore detention camps. The resettlement deal has been signed between the Turnbull and Obama administrations, and it is unclear how, if at all, it might be affected by Donald Trump's coming to power. , Secretary of State John Kerry said that the US had "agreed to consider referrals from UNHCR on refugees now residing in Nauru and in Papua New Guinea." , Secretary of State John Kerry said that the US had "agreed to consider referrals from UNHCR on refugees now residing in Nauru and in Papua New Guinea." Speaking in New Zealand Sunday , Secretary of State John Kerry said that the US had "agreed to consider referrals from UNHCR on refugees now residing in Nauru and in Papua New Guinea." He did not respond to a question about whether the deal could be overturned by Trump. Khah, the refugee on Nauru who CNN spoke with, said he thinks Trump is much better than Australian politicians.</s>CANBERRA, Australia — The United States has agreed to resettle an unspecified number of refugees languishing in Pacific island camps in a deal that is expected to inspire more asylum seekers to attempt to reach Australia by boat, officials said on Sunday.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull would not say whether he had discussed the deal with President-elect Donald Trump during their telephone conversation on Thursday. The Obama administration had agreed to resettle refugees among almost 1,300 asylum seekers held at Australia's expense on the island nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea. Another 370 who came to Australia for medical treatment then refused to return to the islands would also be eligible.

"We deal with one administration at a time and there is only one president of the United States at a time," Turnbull told reporters, adding that the deal was reached "some time ago." Detailed planning had followed the agreement.

Trump has called for a moratorium or tight restrictions on Muslim immigration. Most of the asylum seekers are Muslims from the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

"We are going to work to protect vulnerable refugees around the world, and we'll share that responsibility with our friends in the regions that are most affected by this challenge," Kerry told reporters in New Zealand.

Few refugees have accepted offers to resettle in Papua New Guinea and Cambodia because most hope that Australia will eventually take them in.

Any refugee who refuses to go to the U.S. would be given a 20-year visa to stay on Nauru, a tiny impoverished atoll with a population of 10,000 people, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said.

Turnbull would not say how many refugees the United States might take, but said the most vulnerable would be given priority.

"Our priority is the resettlement of woman, children and families," Turnbull said. "This will be an orderly process. It will take time. It will not be rushed."

He said the United States had only agreed to resettle refugees already on Nauru and Papua New Guinea. Refugees who arrive in the future would not be sent to the United States.

"We anticipate that people smugglers will seek to use this agreement as a marketing opportunity to tempt vulnerable people onto these perilous sea journeys," Turnbull said. "We have put in place the largest and most capable maritime surveillance and response fleet Australia has ever deployed."

Australian Border Force Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg said ships had been positioned to turn boats back to Indonesia if asylum seekers attempt to reach Australia in the hope of being sent to the U.S.

No people smuggling operation has successfully delivered asylum seekers to Australia by boat since July 2014, but 29 boats have been turned back to Indonesia by the Australian navy. The government estimates 14,000 asylum seekers are waiting in Indonesia for an Australian policy shift that would allow boat arrivals to stay.

Turnbull announced at Obama's Leaders' Summit on Refugees in September that Australia would participate in the U.S.-led program to resettle Central American refugees from a camp in Costa Rica. Australia would also increase its refugee intake by 5,000 to 18,750 a year.

Turnbull said at the time that the agreement to resettle Hondurans and El Salvadoreans was "not linked to any other resettlement discussions" involving Australia's refugees getting to the U.S.
Australia and the United States reach a deal to relocate asylum seekers from Nauru and Papua New Guinea's Manus Island to the U.S.