Hicks, 31, has been detained by the US military at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba since January 2002, a month after his capture with Taliban forces in Afghanistan.
Hicks had previously pleaded not guilty at a military commission hearing to charges of conspiracy, aiding the enemy and attempted murder.
But the US Supreme Court ruled in June the commissions were unlawful and violated Geneva conventions so those charges were dropped.
The US government is now introducing laws to revamp the military commissions.
Mr Ruddock has met with the US Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales in Washington and said he has been given assurances Hicks will be dealt with appropriately.
"He (Mr Gonzales) has confirmed that all of the assurances given to us will be met in the bill that is currently before the congress," Mr Ruddock told ABC radio today.
Ruddock a ‘broken record’: Mori
Despite the pledge Hicks’s military lawyer Major Michael Mori has said the Attorney-General “sounds like a broken record”.
“He’s been saying it for two-and-a-half years that we’re getting assurances by the US that it will be dealt with quickly and it’s never come through,” Major Mori told SBS.
“Unfortunately what we’re not hearing form the Attorney-General is ‘Will the system provide David Hicks with a fair trial and is the US complying with the Geneva Convention?’,” he said in a telephone interview.
Mr Ruddock also said he was not seeking a law to forbid Hicks from being executed and wanted the matter dealt with immediately.
"We've made it very clear we would be very unhappy to see it go on for any length of time. We want to see it resolved as soon as possible, but we have to be realistic," Mr Ruddock said
New laws
The Australian Law Council said the passing of the US legislation will allow defendants to be prosecuted based on hearsay and classified evidence.
Major Michael Mori said he’s disappointed by the legislation’s approval and that it’s a major set back for his client.
“Unfortunately the military commission that’s set up under the new legislation, once the president signs it, will not provide David Hicks a fair trial. It’s a rubber stamp of the old system,” he said.
He also said it was unfair for the US Congress to write legislation that will have no impact on US citizens.
“They’re setting up a substandard system of justice only for non-US citizens and it’s something that the US wouldn’t tolerate for it’s own citizens but it expects everybody else in the world to go along with it,” he said.