Nothing's changed on Nauru boat plan: Rudd

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says a small number of asylum seekers will eventually live on Nauru but concedes the tiny island nation won't offer permanent residency.

Mr Rudd was responding to comments from Nauru government spokeswoman Joanna Olsen that there's no chance of citizenship for people deemed to be refugees under the Labor government's hardline plan.

"The language that we agreed with the government of Nauru ... was that a limited number of people will be allowed to settle and reside there," Mr Rudd told reporters in Brisbane on Tuesday.

"Nothing's changed in that respect since."

Mr Rudd's plan to send asylum seekers to Nauru is similar to the arrangement he struck with Papua New Guinea on July 19 to send boat arrivals there for processing and resettlement.

Another 39 single men were sent to PNG on Tuesday, taking the total number transferred to the Manus Island centre to 118.

The Rudd government says they stand no chance of being resettled in Australia and could instead be settled in PNG.

Since the new policy was announced, 23 boats have arrived with almost 1700 people on board.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says the number of asylum seekers who have reached Australia by boat under Labor is likely to hit 50,000 within days.

"This is a terrible indictment of the judgment of our prime minister," Mr Abbott told reporters while campaigning on the NSW central coast.

Mr Rudd inherited an asylum seeker solution when he won power in 2007 and then created a problem, Mr Abbott said.

Almost 50,000 people on around 800 boats have arrived since Labor scrapped former prime minister John Howard's policies in 2008.

Mr Howard weighed into the debate on Tuesday, nominating border protection was Mr Rudd's single biggest policy failure.

"He has had every position on the compass on this issue," the former Liberal leader told a televised Sky News forum in Sydney.

"He has no credibility, not a skerrick of credibility, on the issue of asylum seekers."