MELBOURNE, Australia

 Australia’s prime minister responded to his New Zealand counterpart’s offer to take in some refugees held at offshore detention centers by warning Friday against moves that could give "marketing opportunities" to people smugglers.

Under Australia’s hardline immigration policy, asylum seekers who set out for the country by sea are held at offshore processing centers on Pacific island nations, including Nauru where conditions have been described as appalling by rights advocates.

Earlier this month, the High Court ruled in favor of the policy, resulting in 267 asylum seekers – including 91 children, 37 of them babies born in Australia – facing imminent deportation to Nauru.

After meeting with his Australian counterpart for annual talks, New Zealand’s John Key told reporters Friday that an offer made in 2013 to resettle 150 verified refugees per year from Australian offshore processing centers on Pacific island nations “remains on the table".

"I can't tell you who might or might not be able to come, or whether the Australian government would want to exercise the right to do that," Key said in Sydney.

Australia’s Malcolm Turnbull expressed appreciation for the offer, but stressed that the government remained "utterly committed" against providing "marketing opportunities" to people smugglers.

"We take into account what John has proposed, what John has offered, but we do so very thoughtfully, recognising that the one thing we must not do is give an inch to the people smugglers," he said.

"The election of the Labor government here in 2007 resulted in over 150,000 unauthorised arrivals, over 1,000 deaths at sea," he added, describing it as “a catastrophic failure of policy".

Turnbull assured that immigration officials were working on asylum seeker cases on an individual basis.