Urged on by Pauline Hanson, who declared Australia was “landlocked” on Monday despite boasting one of the longer maritime borders in the world, the Australian Prime Minister told a United Nations summit on refugees and migrants in NY that official control and public support went hand-in-hand.
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The Prime Minister made the comments as he addressed the United Nations General Assembly in NY, aimed to addressing the 65.3 million people displaced internationally.
Mr Dutton restated that Australia was in “discussions with a number of third countries” in a bid to resettle people found to be refugees “but we have to provide an arrangement that is not going to provide a pull factor”.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull also called for the quick implementation of measures to stem the tide of refugees.
The Refugee Council of Australia has also joined speculation that the Central American refugees announcement might mean a people swap was in the works, saying the treatment of people in Australia’s offshore detention centres was the “elephant in the room” during Mr Turnbull’s speech.
“Addressing irregular migration through secure borders has been essential in creating the confidence that the government can manage migration in a way that mitigates risk and focuses humanitarian assistance on those who need it most”, Mr Turnbull said.
Ronalds said Turnbull should have used his moment on the world stage to announce an increase to Australia’s humanitarian intake, which is now 13,750 people a year.
Under Australia’s strict border protection policies, asylum seekers who come to Australia by boat are being refused entry to Australia and are being processed and detained on PNG’s Manus Island and Nauru.
Turnbull however acknowledge it is a “complex crisis” and it “requires a full spectrum of responses”.
Both Mr Turnbull and Mr Dutton have been talking up Australia’s immigration policy ahead of the meetings, with the Prime Minister telling reporters that “our policy on border protection is the best in the world”.
GetUp is one of several human rights and advocacy groups that say Australia’s announcement in NY ignores the treatment of people in offshore detention.
As a first world country, Australia will also increase its current commitment of $220 million aimed at helping those on the ground in conflict zones. This confidence is a key pillar on which our successful multicultural society is built (but) allow public trust to erode and the mutual trust that binds us will similarly falter.
On Wednesday Labor frontbencher Richard Marles, formerly immigration spokesman, said the boosted humanitarian funding was welcome but inadequate and the refugee intake commitment was “very hollow indeed”. “It’s over three years and it’s in the context of having cut funding to the UNHCR”, he told Sky News.
In addition, hundreds of people remain in immigration detention: 1,346 on mainland Australia, 242 on Christmas Island and 1,244 across Nauru and Manus Island.
“We would like to see it even more than that but certainly it’s a big development, a big move over the 13,750 that we’d had in recent years so, yes, we welcome that”, Refugee Council president Phil Glendenning told ABC radio.
Instead he announced the previously earmarked increase in Australia’s humanitarian intake to 18,750 by 2018-19 would be made permanent.
“Oxfam is calling on governments – especially rich ones – to commit to welcoming more refugees”.
“Because we are able to say that we decide who comes into Australia and how long they stay, because we have control of our borders, we are able to deliver that generous humanitarian programme”.
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It has issued a statement together with the Human Rights Law Centre and the Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce.
