By Nicole Hasham
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Persecuted people fleeing troubled nations including Iraq, Burma and Afghanistan would be denied sanctuary in Australia if the Abbott government increases its Syrian intake without raising overall humanitarian numbers, the Refugee Council of Australia says.
Concern is growing that the government measures will pit groups of desperate people against each other, while failing to substantially help stem the refugee influx crippling Europe.
The government has pledged to take more Syrian refugees but has so far refused to increase the total number of refugees Australia accepts, which will number about 13,750 this financial year.
It raises the prospect that thousands of non-Syrian refugees would miss out on resettlement in Australia.
Migrants and refugees wait in line to board a bus organised by the Austrian government in Hegyeshalom, Hungary, at the weekend.Credit: Marko Drobnjakovic
A report by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, on global resettlement needs in 2016 said aside from war-torn Syria, new and unresolved conflicts in South Sudan, Mali, Nigeria, the Central African Republic and Ukraine had caused mass displacement.
The plight of Iraqi refugees would continue to be a global priority, and refugees of Somali, Sudanese, Eritrean and Palestinian origin would also need resettlement.
The Abbott government pledge amounted to "shuffling … and taking places away from others in need of protection. Unfortunately this is setting up one group of desperately needy people against another," Mr Power said.
People potentially shut out of the refugee intake included Iraqis, Burmese, Afghans, Bhutanese, Congalese and Ethiopians, he said.
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre chief executive Kon Karapanagiotidis said the government's refusal to raise the overall refugee intake was "pathetic".
On Sunday Prime Minister Tony Abbott declined to put a specific figure on the increase in Syrian refugees, but said it would be "significant".
Figures show the government's promised increase follows a relatively low base in recent years.
In the year to June 2014, about 19,000 Syrians sought a refugee or humanitarian visa but just 1007 were granted.
They represented just 9 per cent of the total offshore humanitarian intake.
This rose last year when Australia took about 4400 people from Syria and northern Iraq, representing about 30 per cent of the humanitarian program. Fairfax Media has sought a breakdown on visas granted to Syrians alone.
Labor on Monday called for the government to make a one-off commitment to taking 10,000 additional refugees from the Syrian crisis, and Mr Abbott in question time said Australia's refugee intake may have to be "further revised".
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has flown to Geneva to hold urgent discussions with the UNHCR about what more Australia can do to help alleviate the refugee crisis.
In 2013-14, approximately 35,000 people applied to the Australian government for an offshore refugee visa, however just 6500 visas were granted.
In December last year the government said it would increase the number of humanitarian visas by 7500 places by 2018–19 at a cost of more than $100 million.