Australia relents on asylum, will take 12,000 refugees

Australia will nearly double its humanitarian refuge quota to take in another 12,000 Syrians and Iraqis this year, Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced Wednesday in a major policy shift.

Abbott’s government has been sharply criticized by human rights advocates for its rigid ceiling on granting asylum and for outsourcing the care and shelter of refugees to squalid camps in Papua New Guinea. The government also came under fire in May over reports that the Australian navy had paid smugglers to turn back a boat full of Asian migrants.

As recently as Sunday, Abbott said the annual quota of granting asylum to 13,750 would not be expanded in spite of the worldwide outcry for prosperous nations to take in more of the hundreds of thousands of desperate people fleeing the chaos of Syria’s civil war.

“Our focus is on the persecuted minorities who have been displaced and are very unlikely ever to be able to go back to their original homes,” Abbott said. Women, children and families - “the most vulnerable of all” who have been holed up in refugee camps in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan for months or years will be given priority, he added.

Australia also will contribute an additional $32 million to refugee relief work carried out by the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, the prime minister announced. That brings Australia’s contribution to about $170 million this year, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Abbott announced the decision to welcome another 12,000 displaced by the Middle East violence at a Parliament House news conference in Canberra. He also said Australia will soon join the coalition of nations carrying out airstrikes against Islamic State in the Syrian territory the militants have seized.

The bombing raids by Australian forces will begin “within the week,” Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin said.

Australia has about 330 troops deployed in Iraq to train Iraqi government forces to fight against Islamic State

Abbott said Australian airstrikes would be directed at Islamic State positions, not the Syrian government.