Foreign Minister Bob Carr says he believes too many Iranians gaining refugee status in Australia should be seen as economic migrants simply looking for a better life.
Mr Carr's comments came after he faced questions from the Greens in the Senate over his call for a tougher refugee assessment process.
Senator Carr has faced criticism from refugee advocacy groups after claiming the courts and the Refugee Review Tribunal are getting it wrong on many of their decisions.
He said they were granting asylum too readily to many people who have paid people smugglers.
Michael Kenny reports.
Under questioning from Greens leader Christine Milne last week, Senator Carr singled out Iranians.
He suggested many coming to Australia by boat should not be assessed as refugees.
"I refer to the recent spike in Iranian immigration which is overwhelmingly middle-class Iranians who belong to the majority religious and ethnic group in that country, who are coming to these shores as economic migrants brought here by people smugglers."
Immigration Department figures from the 2011-2012 financial year show more than 850 Iranians who arrived in Australia by boat gained protection visas.
The department rejected asylum to almost 550 other Iranians who arrived by boat in the same period.
The figures show a significant increase in the number of Iranians arriving in Australia by boat over recent years.
Thirteen Iranians who arrived by boat requested asylum in the 2008-2009 financial year, compared with more than 15-hundred in the 2011-2012 financial year.
Official figures from the Department of Immigration for the 2012-2013 year are expected in August.
The Migration Institute of Australia says Senator Carr has rushed to an unfair conclusion on the motives of Iranian asylum seekers.
The institute's national president, Angela Chan, says she believes many of them are fleeing Iran as genuine refugees.
"People are still fleeing Iran because of fear of persecution. It may not be because of what they did today, or even last week, but it could have been what they did in the last 12 months. Things happen for political reasons in many countries for which we often don't understand."
To decide on refugee-protection visas, the Department of Immigration says it relies on the conditions set down in the United Nations Refugee Convention.
The convention defines a refugee as a person cannot return to his or her home country because of a well-founded fear of persecution.
The department says persecution could occur because of an individual's race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.
The department says its definition does not include people who leave their country because of general civil disturbance or war, famine, or natural disasters, or to seek a better life.
Associate Professor Alex Reilly specialises in refugee law at the University of Adelaide.
He believes the current process used to assess asylum-seeker claims is fair and Senator Carr's comments on Iranian migration are misguided.
"Why are middle-class Iranians leaving (Iran)? One reason they're leaving is that they may have lost the capacity to earn a livelihood. So they're middle-class Iranians, therefore, they have money, but, if they're in a position where they're not able to make a livelihood, that can amount to persecution. So, I mean, another example is, think of middle-class Jews in Germany (during World War Two). Just because you're middle-class, that doesn't mean that you're necessarily not being persecuted."
Dr Reilly says he also disagrees with Senator Carr's criticism of court rulings when he says too many refugee visas go to people who should be seen as economic migrants.
Senator Carr also criticised the Refugee Review Tribunal, claiming it needs tougher processes in place to determine who should be granted refugee status.
Dr Reilly believes the current processes have worked well for decades, and he is sceptical of any potential political interference in the area.
"It does sound a bit like the rhetoric we had in the Howard era, where there were attempts to make it tougher. You can only make it so tough and still be satisfying your obligations under the convention. We've put into the Migration Act a very strict interpretation of the Refugee Convention. To do anything more -- for example, taking out the right to judicial review, which the Howard Government did try -- does end up going to the High Court."
Refugee lawyer Greg Barns, from the Australian Lawyers Alliance, agrees, saying Senator Carr is trying to bully the Refugee Review Tribunal.
Mr Barns says he has represented many Iranian refugees in court and he believes the Minister is twisting the facts to win votes in the lead-up to this year's federal election.
"Some of them are the children of Iraqis, so they have come into Iran and they're not treated as citizens by the Iranian authorities. They live in a shadow economy. They face persecution because they're of Iraqi origin. It just seems absurd that you would get a lot of Iranians who can afford to leave their country taking hazardous journeys and coming to Australia on leaky boats. It just doesn't bear any relationship to the truth, and I think what Senator Carr is doing is demonising people. He's not responding to facts, and he's simply doing it for political purposes."
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has backed Senator Carr's comments.
Mr Rudd says he agrees many asylum seekers arriving by boat should be regarded as economic migrants, rather than refugees.
But he has not announced any changes to immigration policy since he took over as prime minister last week.
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