Syria crisis: Dutton flags more for refugees

Australia may need to accept a further wave of Syrians and Iraqis in the next few years, Peter Dutton says.

Peter Dutton has left the door open to more refugees.

Australia may need to accept a further wave of Syrian and Iraqi asylum-seekers in the next few years, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said today, with the first of 12,000 extra refugees expected to arrive by Christmas.

Mr Dutton’s comments came as another Liberal minister, Jamie Briggs, criticised Barack Obama’s handling of the Middle East and said Washington “can probably do more” to resettle refugees.

Mr Dutton, asked whether Australia may revise the 12,000 special refugee intake announced earlier this week, said the government’s humanitarian program was typically “ahead of the curve”.

The 12,000 places are on top of Australia’s annual humanitarian intake of 13,750.

“We’ll have to assess in due course what the next wave of support might be,” he told ABC Radio.

“We’ve been generous in this announcement and we want to provide support to people to start a new life but to try and predict what is going to happen in even two or three years’ time given the volatility, it’s just very hard to predict.

“We have a responsibility now, having made this commitment, to make sure we can settle people as quickly as possible and we expect the first of the Syrian to arrive in Australian before Christmas.”

The government will meet migrant resettlement groups and ethnic community leaders in Canberra today.

Mr Briggs, the assistant infrastructure minister, said Australia’s military partners in the Middle East “can probably do more” to resettle refugees.

“The United States is always looked upon as a leader in these issues and hopefully President Obama is a bit more generous with some of the humanitarian response,” he told Sky News last night.

Mr Briggs predicted Middle East policy would not be among “Obama’s top 10 legacy items”.

“I don’t think it’s been handled brilliantly since 2010 since the Arab Spring popped up, I think this issue has not been handled well by the Obama administration.”

President Barack Obama has ordered his team to admit at least 10,000 Syrian refugees next year, amid criticism that the United States has not done enough.