Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister has pre-empted decisions on the refugee status of asylum seekers being held on Manus Island, declaring “a good majority” of those who have been interviewed are not “genuine refugees”.

Peter O'Neill has also made plain that PNG will only re-settle “some” of those whose refugee claims are recognised, insisting other countries in the region should “carry the same burden as we do”.

But Prime Minister Tony Abbott, in a joint media conference with Mr O'Neill yesterday, could not nominate a single country that has indicated it will take refugees from Manus, where around 1300 asylum seekers are being held and not one refugee status determination has been completed since the first transfer of asylum seekers in November 2012.

Mr Abbott accepted that “it might be hard” for PNG to take all whose claims were recognised and said Australia was “continuing to work with other countries in our region to ensure that people don't come to Australia if they arrive illegally by boat”.