Former prime minister John Howard has suggested the Abbott government may have to go further than offering temporary safe haven to those fleeing Syria.
Mr Howard, who in 1999 offered temporary asylum to 4000 Kosovars, said the situation in Syria is much different.
"That safe haven was offered in the genuine belief at the time .... it would be a temporary thing only, and that the aggressors would be taken out and the Kosovars could go back to their homeland," he said.
"Now I don't know that the circumstances now are exactly similar.
"I don't think you should see the example of the Kosovars as exactly similar to the current situation."
Mr Howard said it was not for him to rule anything out, and up to Tony Abbott to develop the right policy, but that "there are circumstantial differences".
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