The UNHCR estimates that more than three million people have now fled the Syrian conflict. Germany announced that it will double its intake of Syrian refugees to 5000.
The European Commission has proposed paying countries in the European Union €6,000 for each refugee registered with the United Nations that they resettle.
Twenty seven asylum seekers spent three days undetected on Christmas Island after their boat was wrecked off the coast.
The government’s attempt to reintroduce Temporary Protection Visas was blocked by Labor and the Greens. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison responded by announcing that the government would cease processing the current backlog of 33,000 permanent protection visa applications.
The Prime Minister Tony Abbott indicated that the government is concerned about the way the Refugee Convention has been ‘imported into Australian law’.