Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's office insists there is no change to the deal in which the US takes in refugees from Australia's Manus Island and and Nauru detention camps.  But the White House is throwing the agreement into confusion.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said, "Those people, part of the deal is that they have to be vetted in the same manner that we're doing now.  There will be extreme vetting applied to all of them, that is part and parcel of the deal that was made and it was made by the Obama administration with the full backing of the United States government."

That "extreme vetting", a catch phrase from Donald Trump campaign, is a new facet that wasn't mentioned before.  Over the weekend, the PM said that he held a 25 minute phone conversation with Trump, about the deal reached with the Obama Administration weeks before to send 1,250 refugees to the United States.  Turnbull thanked Trump for "his commitment to honor that existing agreement". 

What's more, the ABC reports getting a follow-up phone call from the White House explaining that Trump hasn't actually made up his mind and is still considering the deal. 

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says the ball is now in the Prime Minister's court:  "Mr. Turnbull said that Mr. Trump has promised the deal will go ahead so I assume that Mr Turnbull was being straight with us," he told reporters in Melbourne.  "Mr. Turnbull should just tell us what's going on."