Australia shows helping hand to Syrian Refugees and refuses to rule out combat forces against ISIS

Tony Abbott,Australian Prime Minister said "Australia would accept 12,000 Syrian refugees on top of Australia's annual commitme...

Tony Abbott,Australian Prime Minister said "Australia would accept 12,000 Syrian refugees on top of Australia's annual commitment to take in 13,750 refugees from around the world".                       he went on to add "These will be permanent resettlement places over and above Australia's existing humanitarian program of 13,750 this year, which rises to 18,750 in 2018-19.Our focus for these new, 12,000 resettlement places will be those most in need of permanent protection... women, children and families from persecuted minorities who have sought temporary refuge in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey... the most vulnerable of all."
                      'Some Muslim people are very much members of persecuted minorities. As I said there are Druze, there's Kurds, there's Turcomen, there's Yazidis, there are Muslim and non-Muslim persecuted minorities in this part of the world and we are prioritising all of them,' Mr Abbott said.
                      But Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has criticised the government's plan.
                      He said they should be adding to the existing 13,750 humanitarian places, not substitute Syrian refugees for others.
                      'I say to the government, please don't be guilty of knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing,' Mr Shorten told reporters on Wednesday.
                      Ahead of cabinet discussion on the issue, Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said the government would focus on assisting those persecuted ethnic and religious minorities who would have no home to return to when the Syrian conflict was over.
                      'So that includes Maronites, it includes Yazidis, there are Druze,' she told ABC television.
                      The refugee issue has come to the forefront of the Australian political landscape following national and international outcry when an image of the body of a drowned Syrian toddler, Aylan Kurdi, was shown around the world and highlighted the risk asylum seekers took when escaping conflict.
                      After the photograph surfaced, thousands of Australians took to the streets to remember Aylan and to protest the Australian Government's refugee policy, calling on Mr Abbott to increase the country's refugee intake.