When asked whether he'd accept a situation where Nauru would accept an offer by New Zealand to resettle refugees, Mr Dutton in an interview with Al Jazzera said that it was a decision between those two countries.
Mr Dutton then said Australia would not take any of the detainees from Nauru.
"We have had people smugglers that have tried to send boats across the top of Australia to New Zealand before," he said.
"Let me make this very important point that people — if they've sought to come by boat — it doesn't matter where they're resettled, New Zealand or somewhere else, they will not be coming to Australia at any point."
New Zealand offered to take 150 people per year in 2013, an option which remains feasible for the Turnbull government.
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key clarified that the offer still stood in February.
“That offer is there. Historically, the Australians have said ‘no’.”
“But it is part of the 750 allocation we have and, if they wanted us to take people then - subject to them meeting the criteria - NZ would be obliged to given the commitment that we do so," he added.
In June, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said New Zealand wasn't an ideal solution.
"It would send a message to the people smuggling trade that you can get to New Zealand and then, presumably, to Australia," she said.
The Labor Party had its own options for resettlement, including frontbencher Anthony Albanese's comments to ABC's Q&A program in May that Canada and New Zealand were among a "range of countries" suited to resettle Australia's asylum seekers.
When pressed if New Zealand was being considered, Albanese said it "might be".
