Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Friday that all refugees who arrive in Australia by boat will be resettled on the South Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea.

Rudd and Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill signed an agreement in the Australian east coast city of Brisbane that will enable Australia to deport refugees to its developing neighbor.

“From now on, any asylum seeker who arrives in Australia by boat will have no chance of being settled in Australia as refugees,” Rudd told reporters.

The move, described by Rudd as “very hard line,” aims to deter an escalating number of asylum seekers who travel to Australia in rickety fishing boats from poor, war-torn homelands through other countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia.

The growing influx is a major political problem for Rudd’s Labor Party, which is the clear underdog in elections expected within months.

Immigration Minister Tony Burke says the rule will apply to refugees who arrive from Friday.

Asylum seekers who arrive by boat would continue to have their refugee claims assessed in Australia and at detention camps in Papua New Guinea and Nauru.

Australia would help genuine refugees settle in Papua New Guinea — a diverse tribal society of more than 800 languages and 7 million people who are mostly subsistence farmers.

By Friday, 15,728 asylum seekers had arrived by boat this year. The arrivals are on track to exceed last year’s total of 17,202.

Iran has become the biggest source country. Asylum seekers from Iran last year accounted for one in seven arrivals. This year, they make up one in three.

Indonesia has announced it will stop issuing visas on arrival to Iranians in a bid to stem the flow to Australia.

Amir Syamsuddin, justice and human rights minister, signed a decree on Thursday revoking the visa on arrival option for Iranians that has been in place since 2005, said Maryoto Hadi, spokesman for the immigration office. The new restrictions start Aug. 20.

Rudd said his government would negotiate with other of its neighbors in a bid to restrict visa access from other asylum-seeker source countries.

Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Vietnam, Iraq, Bangladesh and Myanmar are the next largest sources of asylum seekers arriving on Australian shores.

O’Neill set no limit on how many asylum seekers his country was prepared to accept. - Associated Press