Turnbull 'open' to NZ refugee offer

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has kept the door open on a long-standing New Zealand offer to resettle 150 refugees as the Manus Island detention centre stand-off continues.

Turnbull held bilateral talks with New Zealand leader Jacinda Ardern at Kirribilli House in Sydney this  morning.

While they were expected to cross paths at the APEC Summit in Vietnam and East Asia Summit in the Philippines next week, Ardern wanted the chance for the leaders to formally meet first.

In her first overseas trip since becoming leader, Ardern reiterated New Zealand's offer from 2013 to take 150 asylum seekers and refugees from Australian offshore detention centres.

The offer had been rejected by successive Australian governments under Labor and the Liberal Party.

"The offer is very genuine and remains on the table," Ardern told reporters today.

"We, of course, do not have the circumstances that Australia is operating under, we can also not ignore the human face of what Australia is dealing with as well."

Turnbull said the United States refugee resettlement deal, which will take up to 1250 people, was the priority.

"In the wake of that obviously we can consider other ones," he said.

So far 54 refugees have been resettled in the US.

About 600 people have barricaded themselves inside the detention facility, which closed on Tuesday and has no power, water or food. They feared for their safety if they had to leave the compound.

New Zealand, which takes a total of 750 refugees a year, first made its resettlement offer to the then Labor Gillard government.

It has been rejected more than once on the grounds it would give asylum seekers a backdoor into Australia and become a marketing opportunity for people smugglers.

A federal government backbencher, Kevin Andrews, today broke ranks to support sending refugees to New Zealand to help end the stand-off on Manus Island.

Andrews, a former immigration minister, told Sky News he acknowledged there were concerns about such a deal, but said: "We should give consideration to what New Zealand is offering.

"It's a difficult problem but we should not rule out any particular solution."

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten believes the federal government should accept the offer.

Overnight, one refugee on Manus Island was reportedly experiencing heart problems.

The last food packs were distributed today.

SUPPORT FOR TPP

Both leaders said they supported the now 11-strong Trans-Pacific Partnership.

"We are very committed to the TPP ... free trade and open markets are absolutely key priorities," Turnbull told reporters.

Ardern still has one point of concern surrounding the investor-state dispute settlement clause which enables an investor to bring a claim against a state within the agreement.

"It is something I have made clear domestically and its something I think the population would like to pursue to make sure we are protecting New Zealand's domestic best interests.

She said there is no denying the TPP provides a distinct opportunity, especially with Japan, which just wants to put the TPP signed and put to bed.

"But at this stage, it will not stop us from pursuing the ISDS clause as far as we are able."

Earlier, Australian Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said he could not imagine that a successful Trans-Pacific Partnership will not involve the United States at some stage in the future.

One of US President Donald Trump's first actions was to pull out of the original 12-member trade agreement, which Senator Cormann said would liberalise trade across a substantial part of the global economy and where most of the economic growth will be generated for years, if not decades to come.