It comes as Immigration Minister Soctt Morrison continues discussions with officials in Cambodia on anti-people smuggling initiatives.
"Whether Cambodia were to accept people is really a matter for Cambodia," Mr Abbott said. "But the point is people smuggling is a regional problem, it needs to be dealt with in a regional way. And any support, co-operation other countries can give to Australia is obviously very welcome."
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison's visit to Phnom Penh is fuelling speculation that Australia is trying to strike a refugee resettlement deal with Cambodia.
Mr Morrison is the second Abbott government minister to travel for talks with the Cambodian government in the past two months.
Following Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's visit in February, her counterpart revealed that Australia had asked Cambodia to resettle some refugees.
Mr Morrison met with Cambodia's Interior Minister Sar Kheng on Thursday.
A spokesman for Mr Morrison said discussions focused on "regional cooperation to deal with asylum seeker movement".
Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young accused the Abbott government of crawling around the region "looking for the next poor country to dump" refugees.
"No one in their right mind believes that Minister Morrison is doing anything beyond wiping Australia's hands of our international responsibilities," she told ABC Radio.
