Immigration Minister Chris Bowen says the government has not ruled out Nauru after the Malaysia swap deal was judged unlawful.
Minister Bowen said the High Court decision overturning the government's Malaysia solution was profoundly disappointing and the government was considering its options.
The High Court has ordered Mr Bowen and his department be restrained from sending asylum seekers to Malaysia.
The government had wanted to send 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia in exchange for 4000 already processed refugees.
"The declaration made ... was made without power and is invalid," Chief Justice Robert French said on Wednesday.
Mr Bowen said this was a significant setback to the government's efforts to break the people smugglers' business model.
"Let's make no bones about it - today's decision by the High Court is a profoundly disappointing one. Disappointing for the government, disappointing for me," Mr Bowen told reporters in Canberra.
Asked whether the government would now consider Nauru for offshore processing of asylum seekers, Mr Bowen said he would not rule anything in or out.
He said cabinet would now consider the ruling.
Mr Bowen said the High Court decision was not in line with what was previously considered as understood and accepted law.
"This decision has potential ramifciations for not only our arrangement with Malaysia but offshore processing more generally," he said.
The federal government has commissioned urgent legal advice for offshore processing.
Because of the ramifications of the judgment, cabinet would carefully and methodically consider its position and get it right, he said.
Mr Bowen insisted the government had been on solid legal footing based on the original advice it had received.
But he said the High Court had applied a new test to "how protections should be demonstrated".
"Clearly that is something which had not been understood before," he said.
"We respect the decision, but it is clearly a new test that had not been read into the Act."
He denied ignoring advice from the foreign affairs department, which was used by the High Court in backing its decision on Wednesday.
"DFAT was not giving advice that Malaysia was not an appropriate country under the Act," Mr Bowen said.
He could not comment on the fate of 330 detainees who had been on standby to be flown to Malaysia if the court had upheld the policy.
Asked how the government got it so wrong, Mr Bowen said he acted on the basis of clear legal advice.
He said Malaysia was a signatory to some UN conventions, although not the refugee convention.
At the time Nauru signed the arrangement with the former coalition government, it wasn't a signatory to the UN convention and didn't have a functional Migration Act.
"So I believed on the basis of the advice given to me and the government the declaration at the time I made it was an appropriate one to make," he said.
"Very clearly it's been a policy that I have implemented in my role as minister but of course it has received cabinet endorsement at every step along the way."
Mr Bowen said the decision had potential ramifications for offshore processing generally and the government had sought advice on that.
He said he hoped this would not damage Australia's relationship with Malaysia.
"I note that the High Court stressed in its findings that it was not finding that Malaysia did not provide those protections but simply it was not demonstrable in law," he said.
Mr Bowen said the government had communicated the outcome of the court decision to Malaysia.
"We are not going to be requesting Malaysia to change its domestic laws," he said.
Mr Bowen is standing by the policy. "I'm proud of the policy, the policy is a good one," he said.
It was designed to let Australia increase its humanitarian intake and stop people making the dangerous journey by boat to Australia, he said.
"That is the government's intention and objective, and remains so," the minister said.
"I respect the High Court's decision, but it doesn't mean I walk away from the fundamental points of the policy, which is one the government can continue to be proud of."
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