Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has used his first speech since being dumped to call for leaders to shut their borders to Syrian refugees fleeing into Europe.
Abbott, who was dumped last month as prime minister in a party revolt, is on holiday in the UK and gave a keynote speech to British conservatives at the Margaret Thatcher Centre in London on Tuesday night.
Although openly expressing hesitance in giving "advice" to other countries at the beginning, he didn't hold back.
"The Australian experience proves that the only way to dissuade people seeking to come from a far is not to let them in," he said, pointing to his government's success in stopping asylum-seeker boats.
"No country or continent can open its borders to allcomers without fundamentally weakening itself."
Abbott launched a hardline militarised immigration policy when he came to power in 2013. It involved processing asylum-seekers in detention centres on small Pacific Islands and towing refugee boats back to Indonesia.
A great honour to deliver this year's Thatcher Lecture in London - Margie and I are delighted to be here
Abbott, who was applauded throughout the speech from the conservative audience, then openly questioned the refugee claims of those fleeing Syria and travelling into Europe.
"In Europe, as with Australia," he said, "people claiming asylum – invariably – have crossed not one border but many; and are no longer fleeing in fear but are contracting in hope with people smugglers.
"However desperate, almost by definition, they are economic migrants because they had already escaped persecution when they decided to move again."
The conservative politician is on a holiday in Europe and earlier in the day was seen advising some of the UK's right-wing politicians on refugee policy.
Was great to meet @TonyAbbottMHR last night at @iealondon event. We chatted about various things inc Migrant crisis
In the Thatcher speech he also leaned on the Bible, suggesting that now is not the time to act like Jesus.
"The imperative to 'love your neighbour as yourself' is at the heart of every Western polity … but right now this wholesome instinct is leading much of Europe into catastrophic error."
It's the first speech Abbott has made since it was revealed he's joined the lucrative international speaking circuit, charging up to $40,000 per speech.
And despite these engagements, the 57-year-old has declared he'll continue as the local member for Warringah, sitting on the back benches in the parliament he once led.
Abbott's post-prime-ministerial activities contrast with his predecessors who were dumped by their party – Kevin Rudd has taken a job at Harvard, giving TED talks and lecturing on international politics, while Julia Gillard has got involved in an international effort to educate girls in developing countries.
The conservative warrior appears to be focused on exporting his "stop the boats" mantra around the world.