Kiwis to take 13 Ocean Viking refugees

New Zealand appears to have done an about face and accepted 13 Tamil Sri Lankan refugees from Australia's Oceanic Viking in Indonesia.

A spokeswoman for the country's immigration minister, Jonathan Coleman, has confirmed New Zealand would take some of the 78 refugees from the Australian Customs vessel despite formerly refusing to get involved.

The decision follows discussions between Kevin Rudd and his New Zealand counterpart John Key, with the spokeswoman saying the Kiwis would take 13 because they had been mandated as refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

"While New Zealand was not prepared to be part of a bilateral situation and take people directly off the Oceanic Viking, following discussions at prime ministerial level, New Zealand indicated to the UNHCR that it would be prepared to consider refugees from the Oceanic Viking as part of its overall quota of 750," she said in a statement.

"As such, New Zealand has agreed to consider 13 UN mandated refugees, subject to New Zealand security checks."

Any such acceptance looked unlikely in November when Mr Coleman said New Zealand would not support an "ad hoc" resettlement process.

"We're wary of rewarding actions that seek to jump the queue for entry to New Zealand," the minister said at the time.

The 78 refugees were en route to Australia when they were rescued from Indonesian waters by the vessel in October. The group refused to disembark in Indonesia before being granted entry to Australia.

Under a deal brokered by Australia, resettlement plans are afoot, with 12 already on the Australian mainland and three more to soon to join them. Four who did not pass ASIO security checks, along with two children of one of the barred refugees, remain on Christmas Island.

More than half of the group went to countries other than Australia.

Twenty-eight are heading to the US, 13 to Canada, 13 to New Zealand and three to Norway.

It's a vastly short-tracked resettlement process because most refugees in Indonesia have to wait four or five years to be placed.

Sources say all nations initially refused to get involved. Acting Opposition Leader Julie Bishop on Monday demanded the government reveal what had been offered to encourage a change of heart.

"The prime minister must disclose what he has offered to other countries as an inducement to take people from the Oceanic Viking," she said.

Meanwhile, the plight of almost 250 Sri Lankan asylum seekers at the Javan port of Merak still remains unsolved. The group have also refused to disembark and hopes to secure a similar deal to those who were on the Oceanic Viking.