We will land refugee deal: Dutton

The federal government has given its strongest indication a deal is all but done to resettle asylum seekers and refugees now on Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea to a third country.

"We are going to land a deal," Immigration Minister Peter Dutton told reporters at Parliament House on Tuesday.

But he refused to provide a timeline for resettlement or say which countries the government was talking to, apart from saying those negotiations had been happening "for a long period of time".