Peter Dutton defends Australia’s refugee intake speed after comparison with Canada

Immigration Minister defends asylum-seeker procedures after Canada accepted 26,000 in the same time that Australia took 26.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has defended the government’s painstaking procedures for clearing asylum-seekers from the Middle East, amid revelations Canada has authorised 26,000 arrivals in the same time that Australia has accepted 26.

The Canadian government’s special humanitarian program for Syria program reports 21,313 Syrian refugees had already arrived in Canada, while another 4687 applications had been cleared to travel to the country.

Mr Dutton said Australia’s special intake of 12,000 refugees from Iraq and Syria would not be rushed because the public needed to be assured that the applicants were genuine refugees who did not jeopardise national security risk.

He said several thousand applicants had been screened, but the government was waiting to do security checks with intelligence allies such as the United States.

“I’ve said from day one that we are going to conduct biometric screening and enhanced security checks, including working with our partners … to make sure we can check the bona fides of people that seek to come to our country,” he told ABC TV in Washington.

“We want to extend a hand of welcome to those people who are in desperate need of a new life because … in the case of Syria or Iraq, they have suffered at the hands of terrible people or they have been displaced from their homes, or whatever the case might be.

“The Australian public demands that the Australian government does everything possible to make sure first and foremost our national security is protected and secondly to make sure we are bringing the right people into our country.”

Mr Dutton did not dispute that Australia had resettled only 26 refugees from the special intake.

Canada’s progress was a matter for that country, Mr Dutton said.

Richard Marles, the opposition immigration spokesman, has urged the refugees to be brought to Australia in “as timely a manner as possible” after “rigorous” security, health and identity checks.

Canada has a population of 36 million, compared with Australia’s 24 million.