The first transfers to Manus Island are expected within weeks, following the arrival on Friday of a boat carrying 80 people at the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.
"From now on, vessels that are intercepted will have the new rules apply to them and it will be a couple of weeks because of the health checks ... before the first transfers take place," Immigration Minister Tony Burke said.
The plan is the key plank of a new regional settlement arrangement signed on Friday by the PNG and Australian governments and better positions Labor to go the federal election with a border protection solution.
"Any asylum seeker who arrives in Australia by boat will have no chance of being settled in Australia as a refugee," Mr Rudd, who was flanked by his PNG counterpart Peter O'Neill, said in Brisbane.
"If they are found to be genuine refugees, they will be resettled in Papua New Guinea."
