PRIME Minister Tony Abbott arrived at the World Economic Forum repeating his line that the Syrian situation was "baddies vs. baddies."

Mr Abbott arrived in snowy Davos, Switzerland, in the early hours of this morning Australian time and went straight into meetings with business leaders and with Forum founder and executive chairman Professor Klaus Schwab.

He will spend the next two days including his keynote speech on Thursday spruiking his agenda for the G20, which Australia will host in November. Mr Abbott said free trade was at the top of the agenda because “free trade is at the heart of the wealth of nations”.

In a broad-ranging press conference this morning he said:

- THE Assad regime in Syria had acted in “monstrous ways towards its own people”.

“The difficulty in Syria is that - as I famously, perhaps infamously said during the election campaign - it often seems like a case that involves baddies versus baddies,” he said.

“I guess the best way for all of them to demonstrate that at least some of them are goodies is to lay down their arms and try to ensure that the conflict… starts to subside.”

- THAT he would not speculate about Mr Shorten’s declaration he could make Mr Abbott a “oncer” Prime Minister.

“He seems very cocky, doesn’t he, for someone who’s only been in the job for a couple of months,” he said.

- THAT he was confident the mining and carbon taxes would be scrapped by the time the G20 began in Brisbane.

“I certainly do (think they’ll be scrapped). The election last year if nothing else was a referendum on the carbon tax… and on the mining tax. The people spoke unambiguously, they want these toxic taxes gone,” he said.

- THAT Indonesia was Australia’s “most important single relationship but that the “way is shut” for people smugglers and that Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono needed to understand how seriously countries take their sovereignty.

“As far as I’m concerned I want nothing but good in the relationship … all of that said, for us, stopping the boats is a matter of sovereignty and President Yudhoyono of all people has got to understand ... does understand how seriously countries take their sovereignty,” he said.

Mr Abbott said the situation in Nauru - where the Government has sacked and deported the only magistrate, Peter Law - was a matter for the Government there but that he would "make no apologies" for the Government's asylum seeker policies.

"As a large and friendly neighbour we are making it clear that the rule of law is very important," he said.

"We're sending people who arrive illegally by boat to Nauru as part of the range of measures that we've put in place that ... seems to be very effective at stopping the boats.

"I make no apologies whatsoever for the absolute determination of the Australian Government to secure our borders and stop these boats."

He said his message for people smugglers was that "the way is shut" and told asylum seekers they were wasting their money.

"You will never get to Australia if you seek to arrive illegally by boat," he said.

Mr Abbott also responded to South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill’s calls for the Coalition to pledge $2.8 billion to the state to help it cope with Holden’s 2017 closure. He said they had already committed $60 million to help workers and that they would help SA by helping the broader economy.

“What we’re doing for the SA economy is trying to produce better economic conditions overall. We’re trying to get taxes down, we’re trying to get regulations down, we’re trying to get productivity up,” he said.

The Forum has come under fire for having only a small proportion of female delegates, when the topics include gender equality. One artist has highlighted that inequality by using former Prime Minister Julia Gillard on a poster with other women.

Asked about that lack of representation, Mr Abbott said it was very important to boost female participation in order to boost productivity, and said the Coalition’s paid parental leave policy and childcare review were aimed at doing that.

The Forum is a meeting of business, cultural and political leaders including UN secretary-general Ban-ki Moon, UK Prime Minister David Cameron and celebrities such as actor Matt Damon, South Korean pop singer Psy, and actress Goldie Hawn.

Mr Abbott is set to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte today. He would not confirm whether he will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.