Australia will be looking for persecuted minorities, and women and children in camps in nations bordering Syria to fill the 12,000 new refugee places, Prime Minister Tony Abbott says.
There are no plans to grant refugee status to Syrians in Australian detention centres on Nauru or Manus Island.
Nor will Australia be looking among the very large number of Syrians who have reached Europe.
Mr Abbott said that was because Australia didn't want to reward people smugglers.
"And we don't want to reward people smuggling. So we are very much going to go to people who have sought asylum, sought refuge on the borders of Syria, in Turkey, in Lebanon, in Jordan," he told ABC television.
"The last thing we want is to add to the problem of people smuggling," he said.
"What we want to do is help people who really, under these circumstances, are never able to go back to their ancestral homes."
Mr Abbott announced Australia would make a one-off boost to its current 13,750 refugee and humanitarian intake by 12,000 permanent places over the rest of this financial year.
On top of the $700 million four-year cost of the immigration program, Australia will also provide $44 million to provide food, blankets and other support to about 240,000 people in UN and other camps.
