Donald Trump has blasted as "dumb" a refugee deal between Australia and the United States, but Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is confident the president won't backflip on their agreement.
An explosive tweet from Mr Trump has once again cast doubt on the deal, in which the US would take refugees currently held on Manus Island and Nauru in return for Australia accepting refugees from Central America.
"Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!" the US president tweeted on Thursday.
Mr Turnbull said despite the president's tweet, he had received multiple assurances from Mr Trump, his press secretary and the US embassy the deal would be progressed.
"This is not a deal that he would've done or that he would regard as a good deal," Mr Turnbull told Sydney's 2GB radio.
"But the question is, will he commit to honour the deal? And he has given that commitment."
Mr Turnbull would not say whether Mr Trump labelled the deal "dumb" or otherwise in their phone conversation on Sunday, after it emerged an irate Donald Trump reportedly called it the "worst deal ever" and insisted "I don't want these people".
The US president reportedly told Mr Turnbull he was "going to get killed" politically and accused Australia of seeking to export the "next Boston bombers", according to senior US officials quoted by The Washington Post.
Mr Turnbull said the deal with the former president was always for the Americans to use their own vetting processes and determine how many of the people on Nauru and Manus Island would be resettled.
"It wasn't a commitment to take everybody sight unseen," he said.
"It is possible they could take a smaller number or a larger number - it will depend on the assessments."
Mr Trump's tweet also contradicted a statement issued by a US embassy spokesperson in Canberra just hours earlier in response to conflicting reports from the White House and US State Department.
"President Trump's decision to honour the refugee agreement has not changed and Spokesman Spicer's comments stand," the spokesperson said.
"This was just reconfirmed to the State Department from the White House and on to this embassy."
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Thursday morning said details of the agreement were still being worked through but the deal remained.
"I am dealing with the official statements of the White House. I am not dealing with unofficial calls from unnamed people," Ms Bishop told reporters in Sydney.
Mr Turnbull insisted relations between the nations remained strong.
"The alliance is absolutely rock solid. It's so strong," he said.
Labor frontbencher Richard Marles said the prime minister must declare exactly what agreement he reached with Mr Trump.
"Labor supports this deal going ahead - and it's time Malcolm Turnbull stood up and levelled with Australians about whether he has a deal or not," Mr Marles said.
"And if the prime minister doesn't know whether he has a deal, he needs to tell us what his plan is now that he has failed to stand up for Australia's interests and values."
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