The Australian Government has confirmed the first asylum seekers to be processed under its new offshore processing legislation could arrive in Nauru this week.
A tent city is being constructed on Nauru to house up to 1,500 asylum seekers.
Australia's Immigration Minister Chris Bowen says the documents to officially nominate the offshore processing locations will be introduced to Federal Parliament today.
"Early this morning, I signed the instrument designating Nauru as a country for regional processing," he said.
"After Question Time today, I'll be moving a motion in the House of Representatives explicitly authorising that designation. I envisage a similar process occurring in the Senate."
A further 600 asylum-seeker are expected to be sent to Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, after Australia and PNG signed a Memorandum of Understanding over the weekend at the APEC meeting in Vladivostok.
Chris Bowen says there are a range of issues that need to be addressed before PNG can be used as a processing location.
"We don't let that stand in the way of the beginning of work - we didn't in Nauru and we don't in PNG," he said.
"Obviously there's a range of logistical issues that need to be worked through in terms of how long it will take to have the physical structure up and running...and then there's the designation.
"As soon as I'm satisfied - not a day before, not a day after - I'll designate PNG as a regional processing country."
Tough line
The government says asylum seekers who have arrived in the past few weeks could be sent offshore to have their claims processed.
The Opposition is urging the Government to take a tough line on dealing with boat arrivals now that the paperwork has been finalised.
"From today, any boat and any person who turns up on a boat must go to Nauru - no exception," opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison told reporters in Canberra.
"They all must go to Nauru from this point on. The government says they are now in a position to send people there, then send them there they must.
"And any exceptions to that will only dilute what is already a half-hearted message that this government is seeking to send."
Mr Morrison says his preference would be for asylum seekers to be sent directly to Nauru after they are intercepted, instead of going via Christmas Island.
Centre preparations
As part of its plan, Mr Bowen says the government has signed a six-month contract with Transfield Services worth $24.5 million for the provision of catering, cleaning, security and transport.
It has also signed a $22 million deal with IHMS for medical services - including mental health.
In addition, the government has asked the Salvation Army to be involved in providing case worker support at the detention centre.
The ABC has been told while tent accommodation in Nauru is ready to go, more work is still needed on things like catering and ablution facilities, meaning the earliest the processing centre can open is the end of this week.
The first group of asylum seekers to be sent to Nauru will be small and include single men who are currently being detained on Christmas Island.
The Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young is again urging the government to put a limit on the time asylum seekers will be held in offshore centres.
"In the absence of that, it is absolutely crucial that there is an independent healthcare expert panel to ensure these people, these very vulnerable refugees, men, women and children are looked after properly," she said.
Ahead of the first flight the Australian Federal Police presence on the island has been boosted and a spokesman for the Immigration Department has confirmed force will be used if necessary to ensure they board the plane.
Paris Aristotle, a refugee advocate and member of the expert committee on asylum seekers, says he hopes that won't be needed.
"I think it's going to be a very difficult situation," he said.
"I think these things are always going to be incredibly difficult, and in an ideal set of circumstances you would hope we don't, we're not in a position of having to do this sort of thing for very long."
