Malcolm Turnbull has heralded Australia's border protection policy as the best in the world, ahead of refugee talks at the United Nations.
The prime minister talked up Australia's "right responses" in having strong borders as well as one of the most generous humanitarian programs in the world, in New York on Saturday.
"The two go together," he told reporters ahead of Monday's (Tuesday AEST) international gatherings on migration and refugees.
"Our policy on border protection is the best in the world."
Australia knows the consequences of abandoning strong policies, he said, outlining the 50,000 unauthorised arrivals, 800 boats and 12,000 deaths at sea blamed on the previous Rudd government.
Mr Turnbull also highlighted the government's annual humanitarian intake.
"Public opinion will not accept a generous humanitarian program, a substantial migration program, unless the government is seen to be in command of its borders," he cautioned.
The prime minister cited worldwide evidence of uncontrolled migration flows which cause destabilisation but insisted he wasn't about to dictate to others.
"We don't tell anybody else how to run their country," he said.
Mr Turnbull, who will remain in New York with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, has accepted an invitation to attend US President Barack Obama's leader's summit on refugees, which will take place on the sidelines of the United Nation's General Assembly on Tuesday.
President Obama wants the gathering to commit to increasing funding for humanitarian organisations and global appeals by at least 30 per cent, boost resettlement options and increase opportunities for refugees through education.
He hopes the meeting will address the level of displacement the world has not seen since the days of World War II.
Advocates want the government to boost Australia's humanitarian intake beyond the slated 18,750 by 2018-19 and speed up the pace of resettling refugees from Syria and Iraq.
Mr Dutton expects Australia's policies, including the offshore detention centre in Nauru, will need to continue for decades.
"There will be irregular movements of people across the globe for as long as we don't have world peace and for as long as people will seek a better economic outcome to their families," he told ABC TV from New York on Sunday (AEST).
"I think we will always be tested in terms of people trying to come from Sri Lanka or from Vietnam or from Indonesia and therefore we will need regional processing centre arrangement."
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