Malcolm Turnbull Has Urged UN Members to Copy Australia's 'Tough Borders' Policy

Despite national polls revealing two-thirds of Australians want our offshore detention centres closed, and thousands of leaked reports detailing the scope of self-harm and misery among detainees on Nauru, and the fact our asylum seeker policy has cost Australia nearly $10 billion since 2013—and the fact the United Nations has declared Australia's indefinite detention of refugees illegal—Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has delivered a speech to the UN, praising Australia's border policies.

"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," the Prime Minister told the UN Summit on Refugees in New York. Turnbull then claimed that tough border policies encourage community support for immigration. "Australia's experience bears this out," he concluded.

No mention was made of the Australian public's ailing support for offshore detention.

The special UN summit, attended by Turnbull and immigration minister Peter Dutton, was held in New York specifically to find a solution to the global migrant crisis. Currently there are around 65.3 million people who find themselves displaced from their homes—as a result of ongoing international conflicts including those in Syria, Somalia, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

Speaking at the conference, Turnbull encouraged other member states of the UN to follow Australia's example when it came to deterring migrants through strict border security. "We need measures to create order out of the resulting chaos," he said.

Turnbull implied Australia's tough border security policies enabled the country to focus its resources on helping those refugees who were "genuine." As he told the assembly, "Australia is committed to a playing a role that provides resettlement options to genuine refugees, that sees our multicultural society grow from strength to strength, and that supports international efforts to help the most vulnerable."

The Prime Minister also espoused Australia's multiculturalism, saying "diversity is an investment against marginalisation and extremism, it helps our community unite, rather than be divided."

In a statement to VICE this morning, chief executive of Save the Children Australia Paul Ronalds was critical of Turnbull's speech. "The Prime Minister failed to commit Australia to effectively meeting the challenge of helping the world grapple with its greatest refugee crisis in several generations," he said.

"Instead Mr Turnbull promoted an isolationist 'deterrence-based' model to asylum seeker policy that the evidence has shown is extremely expensive, takes a heavy toll on those Australia should be aspiring to protect, compromises Australia's global interests, and places the humanitarian burden on those developing nations who have been left to host the vast majority of people forced to flee their homes because of conflict and persecution."

Ronalds said Turnbull should have used his moment on the world stage to announce an increase to Australia's humanitarian intake, which is currently 13,750 people a year. This will rise to 18,750 within the next three years. Save the Children says this number should be increased to at least 30,000 refugees annually.

While many prominent international politicians and media outlets have criticised Australia's immigration policies—most recently comedian John Oliver spoke out about them at the Emmys—our hardline approach has won some fans. Members of the centre-right Danish government have professed their admiration for offshore detention. Some of them even attempted to visit Nauru to learn how they too could deter refugees with offshore indefinite detention.

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