A Liberal politician has given an emotional speech, calling on the government to dramatically increase the number of refugees settled in Australia.
In a late night speech to parliament on Monday, Liberal backbencher Russell Broadbent said he couldn't let his party's hard line on immigration stop him expressing his view that Australia should be "fairer" to refugees.
Broadbent has joined forces with Labor MP Tim Watts and Nationals MP Andrew Broad to call on the government to dramatically increase the number of refugees resettled in regional and rural communities in Australia via private channels such as businesses, individuals, organisations or community groups.
Broadbent said a motion moved by Watts was a call to "compassion, conscience and common sense".
"I can't stand here and say, 'Well I can't say this because my party will be upset with me'', Broadbent told Parliament.
Watts, who recently travelled to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar at his own expense, told parliament that Australia has continually failed to meet its obligations in the international refugee challenge.
"The total number of refugees for whom third country resettlement is the only possible durable solution has increased dramatically," Watts said.
According to figures from the United Nations High Commission For Refugees there are 65 million displaced people around the world, the highest since World War II. This includes around half a million refugees and asylum seekers in South East Asia.
"While at the same time the total number of third country resettlement places is set to fall significantly as a result of the Trump administration's decision to cut the total number of people the United States settles by more than half, from 110,000 per year to a maximum of 50,000," Watts said.
Watts wants the expanded Australian program to be based on the Canadian government's resettlement model, which has privately resettled more than 275,000 refugees since 1978.
Broad wants the community resettlement program that currently allows 1,000 refugees to be privately sponsored by individuals, businesses, organisations or community groups to be expanded to 10,000.
Broad told parliament refugees have contributed $41 million of economic activity to the small Victorian town of Nhill in his electorate.
"It's about private industries and private communities saying how we can play an active role about bringing people out of these camps... these are beautiful people," Broad said.
"I am so proud of humble country folk who are being part of the solution, not part of the problem.
"What I say to people when they are in fact a little apprehensive about Australia taking more refugees… it's really about what are the services we're going to provide, what are the communities we're going to put them in, and how are we going to get them integrated into our communities.
"If we put that work around it, we can actually do this."
Broadbent told parliament that in South East Asia there are "five times the people that go to the Grand Final waiting off our shores" in camps for resettlement.
He said the number of people who buy a pie at the MCG in a 20-minute period is greater than the number of people we resettle each year under private sponsorships.