Prime Minister Scott Morrison has played down the prospect of a bipartisan deal with Labor to resettle refugees in New Zealand.

Key points: ALP softens its opposition to bill banning resettled refugees from travelling to Australia

ALP softens its opposition to bill banning resettled refugees from travelling to Australia Labor says ban should only apply to cohort sent to New Zealand

Labor says ban should only apply to cohort sent to New Zealand Opposition says Government should ask New Zealand to take more than 150 refugees

The Coalition previously hinted it would be likely to accept New Zealand's offer to take up to 150 refugees — but only if Parliament passed legislation ensuring people sent to offshore detention never travelled to Australia.

Labor has opposed that, bill but this morning it softened its stance and said it would support the travel bill if it was watered down so it solely applied to the cohort sent to New Zealand.

"These children need help," Shadow Immigration Minister Shayne Neumann said.

"We think it's time for action, it's time for the Prime Minister, who talked a big game before the Wentworth by-election, to do the right thing by these kids and their families."

"We need to put the politics aside and look after these children," Greens leader Richard di Natale says. ( Supplied: World Vision )

The Government has come under increasing pressure to get all children off Nauru, but this morning, Scott Morrison dismissed the prospect of a grand bargain with Labor, warning that diluting the bill could encourage people smugglers.

"Labor thinks this is something to trade over. You don't get to negotiate with people smugglers based on horse trading in the Australian Senate," he said.

"You don't do it. Because you run the risk of creating a perverse incentive."

Mr Morrison said the New Zealand offer had never been his "preferred outcome", and the Government was focused on resettling more refugees in the United States instead.

"One of the other problems with this issue being pursued in this way by the Opposition is it can work to actually say to people on Nauru at the moment, 'Oh, I won't take the US offer because the Labor Party might be offering me a better offer'," Mr Morrison said.

"And so I would caution people to think carefully about the ramifications of this."

Medical conditions deteriorating in Nauru

Australian Border Force officials last night revealed 11 children were transferred off Nauru on Monday for medical attention, leaving 52 minors on the island.

According to the latest figures, there are 652 people on Nauru, with 541 classed as refugees and 23 as failed asylum seekers. The status of another 88 is yet to be determined.

Border Force's chief medical officer Dr Parbodh Gogna last night said doctors had seen an "unprecedented jump" in refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru needing treatment over the past couple of months.

"A significant ramp up at that point, everything from mental health and obviously there was physical illness as well," Dr Gogna said.

Doctors on Nauru suggested people's resilience had broken down after five years on Nauru, he told Senators.

The Senate Estimates Committee was last night told the United States has taken 276 people from Nauru as part of a resettlement deal and rejected 148.

Labor said the Government should allow families currently in Australia for medical treatment to apply for US resettlement.

The Opposition said the Coalition should also ask New Zealand to take more than 150 refugees.

"We call on the Prime Minister today to get on the phone, speak to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and enter into appropriate negotiations and conditions to resettle these children and their families," Mr Neumann said.

"We would appreciate if New Zealand would do such a thing," he said.

Greens, crossbench push for change

On Monday, the Greens floated a similar compromise to allow families to resettle across the Tasman, despite also rejecting the travel ban legislation for two years.

The party said it would consider a travel restriction but only if all children are first brought to Australia for medical treatment, and the rule only applied to the New Zealand cohort.

"We need to put the politics aside and look after these children, who are being traumatised and brutalised right now," leader Richard Di Natale told the ABC.

The party's Lower House MP Adam Bandt yesterday introduced a private members' bill requiring every child and their family be brought from Nauru to Australia for medical assessment.

Dr Phelps last night said: "We do need to bring an end to offshore detention. It's cruel and unusual punishment."

"We need to bring all of the children and their families, not just the very sick children — we don't wait till there's an emergency — but all of the children and their families to Australia for urgent medical, psychological and community treatment."