Australian PM promises to take in more refugees from Syria

Australia is prepared to take in more refugee from Syria and Minister for Immigration Peter Dutton will travel to Geneva to discuss with United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) for details, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Sunday.

Abbott said he was moved by the image of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, whose body was washed up on a Turkish beach.

"We are disposed to take more people from that troubled region under our refugee humanitarian program and we are open to providing more financial assistance," the prime minister told a press conference at the parliament.

Abbott refused to give the exact number, saying that Australia will increase the percentage of refugees from Syria but will stay with the original UNHCR overtake quota.

The prime minister said Australia has settled more than 4,400 refugees in the last financial year of 2014-15, accounting for 30 percent of the 13,750 places under the Humanitarian Program.

Australian has also contributed 155 million AU dollars (108 million U.S. dollars) in humanitarian assistance in the financial year ended in June 2015, he said.

"Australia, on a per capita basis, is the UNHCR's leading nation for the permanent resettlement of refugees and the government is increasing our humanitarian program from 13,750 places per annum to 18,750 by 2018-19," Abbott said in a statement.

State leaders from New South Wales and South Australia all expressed willingness to shelter more refugees from Syria and urged the government to do more.

Australia is also considering a U.S. request to expand bombing operations across Iraq's western border into Syria against the Islamic State (IS).

The cabinet's National Security Committee will make a decision this week on whether to launch air strikes against IS targets in Syria, and Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) said it is almost certain the cabinet will authorize the action.

Source: XINHUA