New Zealand offers to take Australia's unwanted refugees

Sydney: New Zealand's prime minister says his country is prepared to accept some asylum seekers Australia has sent to detention camps on impoverished Pacific island nations. But there appears to be little chance Australia will take up the offer.

The debate over whether New Zealand should take Australia's unwanted asylum seekers comes amid an uproar over what will happen to 267 asylum seekers who are expected to be transferred from Australia to the Pacific atoll of Nauru. The issue of their fate was raised amid annual talks in Sydney on Friday between Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his New Zealand counterpart John Key.

Australia refuses to allow any asylum seekers who try to reach the country's shores by boat to ever settle in Australia.