Prime Minister Kevin Rudd believes a legal challenge to his hardline plan to banish asylum seekers to Papua New Guinea was inevitable.
Lawyers representing a would-be refugee who has been sent to PNG have have launched a challenge against Mr Rudd's policy. The challenge was initially lodged in the Federal Court but it's believed it will be heard by the High Court instead.
On Tuesday, Mr Rudd said a legal challenge was always on the cards.
"That's just what happens in this country, we're a country of laws," he told reporters in Brisbane.
Under Labor's PNG plan, asylum seeker boat arrivals are sent to PNG for processing and potential resettlement there, or in a third country.
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Mr Rudd dismissed suggestions the policy may go the same way as the Gillard government's Malaysia people swap deal, which was struck out by the High Court in 2011.
"We have exactly the right policy message on this and exactly the right administration to back it up," Mr Rudd said.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus says the government is "very confident" of the legal basis for its PNG arrangement.
Transfers to PNG's Manus Island will not be interrupted.
PNG's Supreme Court is also expected to hear a constitutional challenge to the policy on Tuesday, with lawyers likely to push for access to detainees housed on Manus Island.
