Australia has said it is considering a United States request to take in prisoners from the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, BBC reported.
The Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, said the government had been approached to accept detainees.
This would help the American President-elect, Barack Obama, to close the camp after he takes office.
Ms Gillard said Australia would apply strict security screening before accepting anyone from Guantanamo.
Earlier, the UK joined Portugal in pressing other European countries to take in prisoners from Guantanamo Bay.
While Britain has not directly offered asylum, it said it accepted the US would need help closing the facility.
But the Foreign Office said it was "not pushing for a deal" to allow more Guantanamo inmates into the UK.
"For anyone to be accepted they would have to meet Australia's strict legal requirement and go through normal rigorous assessment processes," Ms Gillard said in a statement.
Ms Gillard's office said it had not been decided who would be considered for intake and under what conditions.
The BBC's Phil Mercer says that Australian newspapers are speculating that the number of prisoners accepted would be small.
Opposition politicians have said the plan is "completely and utterly unacceptable".
"What [Mr Rudd] has agreed to, with the Americans, is to accept Guantanamo Bay inmates for resettlement in Australia, in our community, as migrants, and that is completely and utterly unacceptable to the Australian people," Mr Turnbull told local radio.
The US State Department last week asked around 100 countries for help clearing the camp of detainees over a two-year period, the Australian newspaper reported.
About 255 men are still held at the Guantanamo naval base, including 60 the United States has cleared for release but cannot repatriate for fear they will be tortured or persecuted in their home countries.
Conditions and treatment at the camp opened the US to accusations of torture.
