Last month, the Federal Government announced the resettlement of the 1,600 refugees currently hosed in offshore detention on Nauru and Papua New Guinea's Manus Island.
Malcolm Turnbull struck the deal with US President Barack Obama at that time but it appears unlikely the asylum seekers will be processed and relocated to the US before Donald Trump moves into the White House on January 2017.
US president-elect Donald Trump, who moves into the White House in 50 days, said he will “suspend immigration from regions where it cannot be safely processed”.
"So we have one president at a time, the commander-in-chief, this president sets the policies.” Said White House deputy spokesman Eric Schultz "The President-elect Donald Trump will set the policies once he takes the oath of office."
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has refused to be drawn on the future of the deal. "We'll continue to work with the Obama administration and we'll work with the Trump administration." Said Peter Dutton in the ABC interview.
