By Stephanie Anderson
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says he is confident the Government’s refugee resettlement deal with the US will go ahead despite concessions from senior cabinet ministers that the arrangement is not set in stone.
US President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order this week to impose a multi-month ban on allowing refugees into the US, as well as an additional measure blocking visas for people from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
Senior government sources are confident the orders will not impact the deal to resettle refugees currently on Manus Island and Nauru,entered into late last year with former president Barack Obama.
Mr Turnbull said the Government was pushing ahead with the deal, but conceded it needed to be revisited in the wake of Mr Trump’s election.
“All of these issues are ones that you have to revisit with the incoming administration, and we have done that,” he said.
“I am confident we will maintain the arrangements we have entered into with the previous administration.
“They are in the interests of both parties.”
Mr Turnbull would not be drawn on whether the Government was seeking alternative options, instead citing “extensive continuous discussions with our friends in Washington”.