Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has confirmed Australia's humanitarian intake will rise to 18,750 in 2018-19 - and stay there.
His predecessor, Tony Abbott, announced the increase just over a year ago, up from the previous intake of 13,750, but it wasn't guaranteed beyond that.
This is in addition to the 12,000 places promised by Mr Abbott last year for refugees from Syria and Iraq, of which only 3,500 have been filled so far.
Mr Turnbull joined other world leaders gathered at the United Nations and together, they're promising to take in 360,000 refugees next year.
The United States says 52 countries have agreed to accelerate resettlement and boost financial support for refugees.
The US recently announced a plan for Costa Rica to temporarily take refugees fleeing violence in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, and Mr Turnbull says Australia will help the US resettle some of this group as part of the refugee intake increase.
"So it is a very substantial contribution and one of the points I want to stress is that we have a very good story. We have a proud history of taking in refugees from some of the most troubled parts of the world and then integrating them into Australian society. We put a lot of effort, and Australian Governments have done this for many years."
GetUp is one of several human rights and advocacy groups that say Australia's announcement in New York ignores the treatment of people in offshore detention.
It has issued a statement together with the Human Rights Law Centre and the Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce.
Spokesman Matthew Phillips says Australia's offer of assistance cannot conceal the cruel policies it's been enacting towards detainees on Nauru and Papua New Guinea's Manus Island.
"Today's announcement is nothing but a bad attempt at a cover-up. The Turnbull government has failed to find a resolution for the innocent people on Manus Island and Nauru that they've been unlawfully detaining for up to three years now. So, we think that while this is a step in the right direction to increase the humanitarian program it doesn't find any kind of resolution for those 2,000 people."
Meanwhile, Australia will also commit an additional $130 million over the next three years to further increase support for refugees and communities in key countries of first asylum, such as Jordan, Lebanon and Pakistan.
Malcolm Turnbull says this support will help displaced people return home as quickly as possible.
But opposition leader Bill Shorten has dismissed Mr Turnbull's words, saying he needs to do something concrete about the refugees on Manus and Nauru.
"When will the Turnbull government actually negotiate a regional resettlement arrangement with another nation so that we're not keeping people in indefinite detention? Labor supports beating the people smugglers. We will work with the government. But what we don't believe is that to defeat the people smugglers you have to keep nearly 2,000 people in indefinite detention. Mr Turnbull needs to do more than just reannounce Tony Abbott's policies. He needs to come up with a deal with another country."
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is also in New York and is renewing Australia's effort to get Iran to take back some of its citizens.
There are about 9,000 Iranian asylum seekers in Australia's immigration system.
About 400 are on Nauru and Manus Island, but most are in Australia, in detention or living in the community on bridging visas.
Iranians who do not to meet the Refugee Convention threshold for protection cannot be forcibly returned to Iran because Tehran refuses to accept anyone being repatriated against their will.
As a result, hundreds of Iranians are in limbo in Australia, unable to be deported and without any apparent prospect of being granted the right to stay.
Julie Bishop says a deal would enable Australia to return asylum seekers in exchange for guarantees they would not face persecution or punishment in Iran.
"I'm certainly in contact with my Iranian counterpart over this issue. It's been a long-running discussion. We will continue to seek to negotiate with Iran so that they take back Iranian citizens who have found not to be owed protection. And the simple fact is they are Iranians who have not been found to be refugees. They must go back to Iran."
Mr Turnbull has urged world leaders to do more to address the underlying causes of displacement, including providing more assistance in home countries.
He says border protection is central to managing the influx of refugees, stressing Australia has succeeded in stopping asylum seekers trying to reach the country by boat.
"Our ability to deliver a generous humanitarian program, the *third most generous humanitarian program in the world, the third largest in the world, our ability to do that is underpinned by secure borders because we are able to say that we decide who comes into Australia and how long they stay."
