The Turnbull government has finally admitted it expects the United States to accept refugees from Manus Island and Nauru before Australia takes in anyone from Central America.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton revealed the trade off on Tuesday night after months of strenuously denying the two refugee deals were linked.
He wouldn't be "sucked into a silly outcome" such as the doomed Malaysia refugee deal struck under the Gillard government, which saw Australia take in thousands of people but offload nobody in return.
But Foreign Minister Julie Bishop denies it's a people-swap deal.
"We are seeking to resettle a number of people who came via the people-smuggling trade and have been in Nauru, in particular, with the United States," she told reporters in Washington after meeting with US Vice President Mike Pence.
"But we will continue to take refugees from across the world, as we've always done."
Fellow minister Dan Tehan wouldn't utter the words "quid pro quo" when pressed about the US swap.
"You can call it that," he told Sky News.
"What I would call it is both countries looking to help deal with genuine problems and fixing genuine problems when it comes to ensuring we can have in place proper border security but also deal with the issue of genuine refugees."
Donald Trump has vowed to honour the deal and Mr Tehan expects the US administration to follow through.
"I think Peter Dutton is just reinforcing that and saying when it comes to Australia we look after our interests but this is a way we can work together as two nations," he said.
"We can help solve an intractable problem for both countries, and that's what this is all about."
Labor frontbencher Richard Marles said the immigration minister had finally "belled the cat" in admitting the taking people from Costa Rica was contingent on America taking those on Manus Island and Nauru.
"Clearly this was a deal, quid pro quo, one for the other ... yet we've had a government denying that from day one," he said.
The admission raised serious questions for him about whether the refugee deal was set in stone.
Both countries say the arrangements allow them to reject refugees they believe pose a security risk.
