Australia to accept 12,000 Syrian refugees

TONY Abbott announces mass, one-off intake of desperate Syrian refugees as he vows to hit the IS ‘death cult’ hard with bombing plan.

A migrant family at the port of Lesbos wait to board a ship. More than 230,000 people have landed on Greek shores this year. AFP PHOTO / ANGELOS TZORTZINIS

AUSTRALIA will boost its refugee and humanitarian intake by 12,000 permanent places and provide more than $40 million for United Nations efforts to deal with the Syrian crisis.

The green light has also been given to RAAF bombers entering Syrian airspace to hit Islamic State targets.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced the Cabinet decision, endorsed by the party room, this afternoon, saying the government had “been in the grip of grief” watching the refugee emergency unfolded.

“This is a very significant increase in Australia’s humanitarian intake and it’s a generous response to the current emergency,” he told reporters.

“[It] may be one of the largest commitments made to date anywhere in the world.

Mr Abbott said women, children and families — “the most vulnerable of all” — would be given priority.

“This is a burden that must be shared by all governments and by the wider community,” he said.

“Our focus is on the persecuted minorities who have been displaced and are very unlikely ever to be able to go back to their original homes.

“The government will shortly despatch officials to the region to begin working with the UNHCR to identify potential candidates for resettlement.

“We will move very quickly.”

In addition to the extra refugee intake, the Prime Minister said Australia would provide financial support to a further 240,000 Syrians displaced by conflict, at a cost of $44 million, taking Australia’s total contribution to the crisis to $230 million.

Mr Abbott said the one-off increase would be on top of the existing annual humanitarian intake of 13,750 places that will increase to 18,750 in three years.

A migrant family at the port of Lesbos wait to board a ship. More than 230,000 people have landed on Greek shores this year. AFP PHOTO / ANGELOS TZORTZINIS

On Australia’s role in Syrian air-strike operations, Mr Abbott said Islamic State, or Daesh, could not be defeated in Iraq without being defeated in Syria.

He emphasised Australian aircraft would be targeting Daesh and not the Assad regime, “evil though it is”.

Australia will be joined by other coalition partners including the US, Canada, Turkey and some Arab nations.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton flew to Geneva earlier this week to seek advice on how Australia could increase our humanitarian effort.

Cabinet minister Christopher Pyne told reporters Australia was doing much more than Germany, the UK and France.

Mr Pyne said the government wanted to get the process right and make a considered and methodical decision.

The intake would cover a range of persecuted ethnic and religious minorities.

“We have a colourblind policy in terms of humanitarian support and that will not be changing,” Mr Pyne said in Canberra on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Mr Dutton told Fairfax Australians would be proud of the government’s response to the crisis.

“I think people will be impressed with Australia’s response,” he said.

“I think people will see it as a generous offering on behalf of the Australian public. And I think people will be proud of what the government’s proposing.”

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said he would be pleased if Mr Abbott hears the call of the public, his own coalition MPs and Labor by agreeing to a one-off intake, but said Australians needed to recognise the conflict would go on for some time, he told reporters in Canberra.

“We need to make sure that if we’re going to do the job of taking in refugees, let’s do it right ... the first time.”

He said it was wrong to talk about more refugees causing job losses.

“It’s very important that Mr Abbott rein in some of his MPs on the far right who saying that somehow taking more refugees will cost Australian jobs,” he told reporters in Canberra.

“We need to stamp out that sort of ridiculous rubbish and call it for what it is.”

Mr Shorten also said Labor wanted to be assured that Australia’s military intervention in Syria would be both effective and legal.

He said Mr Abbott had promised a briefing to the opposition after the cabinet meeting.

“I reserve my judgment until I have all the facts from Mr Abbott.”

An Australian boy holds a sign reading ‘There’s room in my house’ in support of the government expanding our refugees intake. (Photo by Daniel Munoz/Getty Images)