Minister for Immigration Peter Dutton links Australia and US refugee deals. Picture: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Ms Bishop is the first Australian minister to visit the White House since the election of US President Donald Trump, and was asked about Immigration Minister Peter Dutton’s comments that Australia would not take Costa Rica refugees unless America honoured its promise to resettle Nauru and Manus Island asylum seekers.

The government has previously denied there was a people swap in place for Nauru and Manus Island refugees and Ms Bishop said she wouldn’t characterise it as a “people swap deal”.

But on Sky News last night, Mr Dutton suggested there was a link to Australia taking America’s asylum seekers.

When asked why America would bother to take Australia’s boat people, and the timing of Australia taking asylum seekers from Costa Rica, Mr Dutton said: “We wouldn’t take anyone unless we have assurances that people were going to go off Nauru and Manus”.

Mr Dutton was asked whether it was a quid pro quo.

“We want an outcome when it comes to Nauru and Manus, that’s the most important thing. My job is to argue our case, the US can argue theirs,” he said.

Mr Dutton said he wouldn’t use the word “people swap” to describe the current agreement but said the government had learnt from past deals such as the Malaysian deal done under the leadership of Julia Gillard.

“We accepted all the people from Malaysia,” he said. “Not one person went from Australia, so we’re not going to be sucked into that sort of a silly outcome.”

Australia was poised to send asylum seekers to Malaysia in 2011 but the High Court ruled the deal invalid because Malaysia was not a party to the Refugees Convention and did not have laws in place to ensure the safety of asylum seekers.

Despite the ruling, Australia still had to take 4000 genuine refugees from Malaysia under the agreement.

Mr Dutton’s comments came ahead of Ms Bishop’s meeting with US Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday (US time), and following a heated conversation Mr Turnbull had with Mr Trump earlier this week about America’s agreement to take refugees from Nauru and Manus Island.

When Ms Bishop was asked today whether she had spoken with Mr Pence about the leaking of the Prime Minister’s conversation with Mr Trump, she said: “that matter didn’t come up”.

Ms Bishop said Australia was working with the US to vet refugees for resettlement.

She described the conversation as “very warm” and “very friendly” and said it went longer than scheduled, which was always a good sign.

She also described it as a constructive meeting between allies and friends, and there were plans for Mr Turnbull and Mr Trump to meet in person.

Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop met with US Vice President Mike Pence at the White House in Washington on February 21, 2017. Picture: Yuri GripasSource:Supplied

The Costa Rica resettlement arrangement was announced by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in September last year, before the election of Donald Trump as President.

Earlier this month, a spokeswoman for Mr Dutton told news.com.au that people from Costa Rica had yet to be referred to Australia for resettlement.

“It (is) expected that Australia will be referred a small number of people for resettlement and they will be resettled within the existing Humanitarian Programme,” she said.

Mr Dutton told Sky News that Australia would reject Central American refugees who posed a risk.

Mr Dutton said Australia would look at each case and determine whether it would take them.

“Some of the examples I’ve been given are Christians who are trying to flee that part of the region, trying to escape gang violence,” he said.

“I won’t be taking people who I think are a risk to our national security or would detract from our community.”

— With AAP

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