Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has called for the swift return of failed asylum seekers to home countries to combat people smuggling.
Mr Dutton announced an $8.5 million funding boost to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in a speech to a global refugee summit in Geneva overnight.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pleaded for the 92 countries present to boost the numbers of resettlement places for Syrians fleeing civil war.
The meeting resulted in countries pledging an extra 5583 resettlement spots, bringing the total to 185,000.
But Mr Dutton reiterated that Australia's special intake of 12,000 would stand, alongside the 4850 places for Syrians and Iraqis under the normal permanent resettlement program.
So far Australia has resettled 26 Syrians since the special intake was announced last September and a couple of hundred under the normal refugee program.
In comparison, Canada has resettled 26,000 government and privately sponsored refugees since November.
Mr Dutton told the summit all countries needed to strengthen their border management systems.
"Persons found not to be in need of protection must be returned to their country of origin expeditiously," Mr Dutton said.
"This is crucial to a fair and credible asylum system because it removes expectations that mere arrival in a place secures permanent residence, thereby breaking the people smugglers model."
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