The possibility of Hicks entering into a plea bargain was raised after US President George W Bush yesterday ratified a new system of military commissions following the US Supreme Court's ruling that the original military courts were illegal.
Fairfax newspapers today reported that Mr Ruddock had predicted
Hicks would take a plea bargain.
"... In all likelihood there will be a plea bargain in which Hicks will agree to plead guilty," Mr Ruddock told Fairfax.
However within hours Mr Ruddock clarified his position, saying a plea bargain was just one option open to Hicks.
"That (a plea bargain) is one of the options," Mr Ruddock told
ABC Radio today.
Hicks 'not guilty'
Hicks' US appointed military lawyer Major Michael Mori angrily denied suggestions his client would plead guilty.
"The first I heard about it was when some reporter called me and asked me if I'd seen the story in The Age," he told ABC Radio.
Major Mori said Mr Ruddock made the same claim two years ago.
"It sounds to me again like this minister is trying to mislead the public into thinking David violated some crime when he knows
David didn't violate Australian law or international law."
Hicks' father says there is no reason for his son to plead guilty.
"If he's guilty of something he would have pleaded guilty in the last lot, if he's not guilty of anything he won't plead guilty," Terry Hicks told ABC Radio.
Mr Ruddock said there were other options available to David Hicks.
"He could plead not guilty and if he was found to be not guilty, in our view, we would be seeking his return to Australia as we did in relation to Mamdouh Habib," he said.
"If he were found to be guilty, there would be the question of penalty, and we have negotiated with the United States a prisoner-exchange agreement and we are in the process of updating that agreement to take into account the new form of military commission."
Hicks is being held in solitary confinement at the US high security prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. He has been held there for about five years.
The 31-year-old had previously pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy, attempted murder and aiding the enemy.
But those charges were dropped following a US Supreme Court ruling in June that declared the military tribunals set up to try Hicks and other Guantanamo Bay inmates illegal.