Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has said "further pressure" will be brought on North Korea through United Nations sanctions, effectively brushing aside Trump administration remarks that the UN route has been exhausted.
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Speaking from the UN General Assembly gathering in New York, Ms Bishop held fast to her long-standing view that sanctions can be effective and, combined with other forms of pressure, can still deter North Korea from its nuclear path. She said it could take "weeks or months" for the sanctions to make their full impact.
"United Nations economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea is one element of a broader strategy to compel Pyongyang to the negotiating table with the intention to abandon its illegal weapons programs," Ms Bishop told Fairfax Media.
"Further pressure will be brought to bear including through the UN Security Council and in coordination with the United States and other countries."
Ms Bishop was responding to questions about remarks by Washington's UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who said at the weekend the US had "pretty much exhausted" what it could do through the Security Council by way of sanctions on the regime of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
Ms Haley said if the US's diplomatic efforts didn't work, "General Mattis will take care of it" - referring to the Secretary of Defence and, therefore, military action.
On Monday, Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne warned that North Korea should take Washington's threats of possible military action seriously because the world will not accept the rogue state becoming a full nuclear power.
Mr Pyne said the US, Australia and their allies needed to give the latest round of United Nations sanctions time to take effect but, asked asked whether the US would really take military action or was merely engaging in shows of brinkmanship, Mr Pyne said: "the United States doesn't make those statements lightly".
"They are well-considered, they are calm," he said. "The United States and its allies have been trying every single option. As they've said, before, all options are on the table. I take them seriously and Kim Jong-un should take them seriously."
Ms Bishop separately told ABC's AM program on Tuesday that, "I believe there is more that we can do in exerting political, diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea".
She said the previous round of sanctions agreed to by the UN Security Council was yet to fully bite and "need time to work".
"It is a long term process but I still believe that North Korea can be deterred from its current behaviour and compelled to come back to the negotiating table if sufficient economic pressure is applied universally."
The latest round of UN sanctions, passed just over a week ago, include a ban on textile exports, a cap on crude oil imports and a ban on new overseas labour contracts for North Korean workers who provide a vital source of foreign revenue to the hermit regime.
Ms Haley said at the time these sanctions would strip the regime of at least $623 million a year in revenue.
But she told CNN at the weekend: "We have pretty much exhausted all the things that we could do at the Security Council at this point."
She added: "We wanted to be responsible and go through all diplomatic means to get their attention first. If that doesn't work, General Mattis will take care of it."
US National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said at the weekend the US now had to "move with a great deal of urgency: on sanctions, on diplomacy and on preparing, if necessary, a military option".
He said the rogue regime's continued nuclear and missile testing - most recently in the firing of a Hwasong-12 intermediate range missile over Japan on Friday - meant "we're out of time".
Ms Bishop is in New York for a meeting of the UN General Assembly at which North Korea is set to dominate discussions.
